Prices of textbooks, stationery items, increased significantly: Business Recorder survey reveals

Publishers and booksellers have significantly increased prices of textbooks, notebooks and stationery compared to prices prevalent in the previous academic year, a survey carried out by Business Recorder revealed. Bookstore owners at different markets of the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad revealed that publishers have raised book prices on the plea that prices of raw material have increased along with the prices of petrol, gas and electricity.
The survey further revealed that the administration of Islamabad Model Schools (previously federal government schools) have increased the admission fee from Rs 250 to Rs 14,00 this year. The model schools' management stated that they have to hire the services of highly qualified teachers, besides providing the students with modern facilities like computers.
Parents maintain that private schools in the twin cities unfairly make it compulsory for students to purchase books and stationery from specific bookshops and accused these institutions of earning a commission on books sold to their students. Increasing textbook and notebook prices have led to many dropouts from the school system, a distraught parent revealed. Others urged the government to take action against profiteers and to at least make education affordable.
Shamim, mother of a student claimed that expenditure on books was more than school fees and unfortunately there was no government check or balance on publishers. She said the government's claim that it would provide education to all is hardly credible given that parents are struggling to pay school fees and purchase the textbooks for their children. A school teacher said that many children are coming to class without books and parents complain that they simply cannot afford the book prices.
Stationery items including pencils, erasers, highlighter pens, scissors, ink pen, scale, glue, chart paper and other items are becoming out of the reach of the middle and the lower middle class families. An official of the City public school told Business Recorder that significant increase has occurred in the imported book prices as compared to the last academic year.
Some of the renowned private schools like City, Beacon House, Roots and Lahore Grammar schools are using imported books published by Oxford and Cambridge for O/A levels. The survey noted that these books as compared to local books are much more costly eg local science book for class sixth cost Rs 100, but science book being taught at City school is available at Rs 500. For grade 6th local book set costs Rs 700, while for the same grade imported books being used by the private schools cost Rs 4,000 which were available at Rs 3,000 last year.
Ahmad a bookseller at super market Islamabad said that most of the private schools have designated specific bookshops while some schools have their own bookstores on the school premises. Around 80 percent of the syllabus of private schools differs in content from others and books prescribed by them are specific and not available at general bookshops.
He added that even Urdu book being thought at leading private schools is different from public schools. Many parents visiting the markets confirmed that the prices of books have increased substantially as compared to the last academic year.