Posted by SchoolDays Newshound on 10/08/2012. Tags: Education And Politics
Parents are unable to benefit financially from traditional schoolbooks going electronic because of a 23 per cent VAT rate.
While the cost of ebooks has fallen around 20 to 35 per cent, there is a 23 per cent VAT rate on digitised publications as a result of EU law, which does not affect
traditional schoolbooks.
Despite this, the Irish Educational Publishers Association said that the ebook would continue to become a vital part of
classroom supplies, helping to enhance teaching and learning, as well as reducing the weight of pupil's school bags.
St Colman's College in Claremorris introduced ebooks last year, with the iPad and related books costing 620 euros over three years compared to traditional books which cost 500 euros.
One of the advantages of using ebooks though is that it can be more cost effective for parents to update an electronic textbook than to buy a new copy every year and can allow students to easily access past exam papers for free.
Posted by Donal Walsh
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Mae
(14-08-2012 15:14)
hmmm...the Vat is only one issue. No discussion about how much is charged for ebooks. 10 per year for each book...results in 30 charge over 3 years...after which the ebook is disabled!!! Is that true?
JohnMc
(15-08-2012 14:31)
I would agree with the question of why iPad over other Android/Microsoft tablets.
As for laptops - this will be a power thing, the batteries are not as long lasting as the tablets so they use it a lot faster and would therefore need to be charged during school - which as I mentioned in the other thread: http://www.schooldays.ie/thread/Will-ipads-or-other-electronic-devices-eventually-replace-schoolbooks--1204041525!open the principal said they were not being charged in the school.
And the other dis-advantage of laptops is that they are heavy, unless they are Netbooks.
@Mae: No it is not true.
Shane
(14-08-2012 20:42)
And no discussion about why iPads are chosen over other better value platforms, like Samsung's android tablets? And no discussion about why tablets are chosen instead of laptops, which have proper keyboards. If students are going to be doing proper homework with essay questions, they need a proper keyboard.
Luke
(14-08-2012 14:40)
This is another case of Ireland being a good boy and playing by the rules while others ignore it. In the past year Luxembourg reduced their ebook VAT rate from 15% to 3% and France reduce it from 19.6% to 7%.
KPMG article: http://goo.gl/p3hgr
A simple Google by Irish journalists would have turned up this information.
margaret
(14-08-2012 15:31)
well done to to st colmans Claremorris for thinking of our youngsters backs. If the cost of their backs were taken into consideration the Ebooks come cheap.