High costs mean many pupils start school year without textbooks
Thousands of pupils have started the new school year without the textbooks they need because they cannot afford them, according to a survey by education non-profit Krijt, reported by Het Nieuwsblad.
Krijt’s survey of 75 schools showed that 6.33 per cent of pupils started the school year without the right textbooks. While part of the issue is supply problems, there were 1,122 pupils whose families cannot afford the books, representing 2.43 per cent of pupils.
Extrapolating those figures for the whole of Flanders, would suggest that 7,600 pupils are affected. “But we think that figure is an underestimate,” said Krijt spokesperson Colette Victor. “Our survey was mainly answered by schools that are aware of the issue and are working on it. It is impossible to say how widespread the problem really is.”
The association says that school costs for families are rising year on year, while publishers are making it harder to use second-hand textbooks.
“Publishers are becoming more inventive about this,” said Victor. “By linking textbooks to unique digital codes, you can still resell such books, but all digital applications will be lost. So you are forced to buy a new copy each time.”
#FlandersNewsService | Archive image © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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