The issue of voluntary school donations is a hot topic at the moment. The irony lies in the word ‘voluntary'.

We all know there is no such thing as a free education in New Zealand anymore.

Students must pay for various things: uniforms, textbooks, photocopying, extra-curricular activities, camps – and that's just the beginning.

Many subjects have a fee attached. If Level 1-3 NCEA exams are sat, NZQA fees must be paid. Scholarship costs more.

Voluntary donations provide the base money for schools to run all services required, and to balance the books across all curricular and extra-curricular activities.

If a school charges in the vicinity of $100 per student per year as a donation and only realises on about 60 per cent of total donations, it has to be better off under the new Labour proposal of $100 per pupil paid to any school that chooses to drop its fee request.

This initiative will be beneficial on so many levels – easing the burden on all families, removing barriers to equality for pupils, enabling parents to potentially afford a sport, camp or extra-curricular activity for their child.

It will eliminate the embarrassment for those unable to pay.

Our children have to be our first priority, they are our future. Any policy that removes barriers from their education must have our full support.