€39,000 'average cost' to educate a child

The average cost of putting a child through the education system is almost €39,000, according to new figures.

The sum is not adjusted for inflation and does not include the extra costs incurred by many parents who make a voluntary contribution to their schools or those who send their children to fee-paying schools at secondary level.

The figure has been calculated by Bank of Ireland Life which concluded that the average cost of sending a child to primary school is €500, to secondary school is €800 and to third level is €7,500 a year. The bank drew heavily on research carried out by the children's charity Barnardos and the Labour Party.

Barnardos calculated that the cost of schoolbooks for a primary school pupil is approximately €137 and an average of €286 for a secondary school pupil.

Labour spokeswoman on education Jan O'Sullivan has calculated that clothing a primary school child costs €310 a year and €412 for each secondary school child.

Additional costs are incurred through the provision of stationery, voluntary contributions, supplementary grinds and the proliferation of extra-curricular activities such as dance classes and soccer camps.

The cost of sending a child to third level drops by more than half to €3,400 if a student decides to stay at home. Despite the costs involved, Bank of Ireland Life found that only 31 per cent of parents had a deposit account for their children's education.

It also found that mothers typically control how children's allowance is used and 24 per cent of parents put their children's allowance in their child's own savings accounts.