More complain about high cost of textbooks

Some parents have expressed worry about the increasing cost of textbooks and other educational materials.

A cross-section of parents, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency at Makola, complained about the high cost of textbooks and called for government’s intervention.

Mrs Mary Yeboah, a plantain seller, said “where my children attend school, they are not permitted to buy their textbooks outside.”

She said if the textbooks were sold at GH¢20.00 outside the schools; the school sells it at GH¢30.00, so this is our biggest problem.

Mrs Juliana Mensah, 53, who said she was taking care of her three grandchildren in a private school, adding that the situation was challenging due to the costs involved.

Mr Kofi Mensah, a mechanic, said he makes enough money, when the children were on vacation, so the pressure is not too much when they resume, but he said the problem was with the compulsory order from schools to purchase their books.

“We want to get the books from the open market, since it is cheaper, than the ones in the schools,” he said.

Mr Evans Appiah, a stationary owner, said that even though school has resumed sales are yet to pick up and this was mainly because the schools provide most of the books to their students and it was making business slow.

However, Madam Dzifa Amevor said business was okay even though about two months ago it was slow.

“They complain about how expensive the books are every year, I have been selling books for the past 11years so the complaints are nothing new,’’ she said.

Mr Anthony Amoah, Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), told the GNA that the Service only monitor the teaching and learning activities of private schools and not the cost of textbooks or fees because they are individual private entities.

Mr Samuel Ntow, Director for Private Schools, GES assured the public that, the GES would collaborate with the National Association of Private Schools, the PTAs and School Management Committees of the schools to see how best to address their concerns.