Saber Fawzy, father of three children in different grades at school, used to buy supplementary educational books for his children, however, this year, he was shocked by the surge in their prices; fifth primary grade supplementary books cost 555 EGP, whereas those for third preparatory grade cost 650 EGP, as a result Saber couldn’t buy the second primary grade books for his youngest son.
Saber clarifies that this year’s prices have doubled, unlike previous years, saying that third preparatory grade books cost 350 EGP.
Saber and other parents were taken by surprise by the prices at the beginning of the school year, the thing that forced them to give up the idea of purchasing supplementary books, while some decided to buy used supplementary books. Their children’s grades weren’t that good during the first semester, and as the second semester started, they found themselves in the same ordeal. Moreover, some books got more expensive than the first semester.
Faten Farouq, she has two children, one in the sixth primary grade while the other is a second-year high school student; Faten complains about the supplementary books getting more and more expensive, “I had to give up buying many things our house needed to get to buy the books, and despite this, I couldn’t buy all of them, the thing that affected our budget; high school supplementary books cost 1,500 EGP, while preparatory grade books cost 700 EGP.”
Faten then explains that despite this exaggerated increase in the prices of supplementary books, compared to last year, sixth preparatory grade books are not available.
Iman Fathy, 42-years-old mother of three Azhar school students, lives through the same hardship, saying that Azhar’s books this year’s prices range between 45 to 50 EGP, although last year’s most expensive one didn’t exceed 20 EGP.
Expensive supplementary books forced some students and parents to resort to the used books market, among them is Basmala Sobhy, a third-year-preparatory-grade student, who couldn’t buy new books as she used to.
Basmala gave up buying books for subjects like science and social studies, the thing that affected her grades at school, as supplementary books used to help her solve more exercises and learn all types of questions.
The Ministry of Education tried to work on this problem through providing students on its website with educational materials and exercises for grades from fourth primary to third high school grades, in order to help them study and lift the load off the shoulders of the parents, according to the ministry’s statement.
The statement also indicated that the content is easy, simplified, and thoroughly explains all basic knowledge for each unit of the curriculum, using figures and illustrations in formulating knowledge and concept maps that help students connect between them.
Still, we didn’t get a clear answer: why did supplementary books’ prices increase?
Mohamed Abu Hisham, stationary shop owner, attributes this to the increase in paper prices, as a single paper pack costs 130 EGP instead of 40 EGP, that’s why there is less demand on supplementary books this year.
Mohamed Rabea, stationary shop owner, compares this year’s prices to last year, saying that primary grade books’ prices ranged between 40 to 70 EGP, while high school books ranged between 180 and 200 EGP.
According to him, this year, primary grade books’ prices reached 120 EGP, while high school books reached 750 EGP, so parents are no longer able to buy them, and are forced to buy used ones.
Students can use the educational materials the ministry provides on its website, where they find many exercises at the end of each unit of the curriculum.
The questions are designed to assess the intended learning outcomes across all cognitive levels, ranging from basic memorisation and comprehension to in-depth understanding. They also encompass all the topics covered in the curriculum’s units.
