Reduce prices of textbooks sellers urge authors

TEXTBOOK sellers in Accra have called on authors to reduce the prices of textbooks for junior and senior high schools in order to increase patronage.
According to them, the high cost of textbooks has affected patronage as customers are unable to afford at the exorbitant prices.
The traders told the Daily Graphic that the low patronage was due to the changes of syllabi by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports which required more research by the authors.
The Manager of the Hollywood Enterprise, who pleaded anonymity, said the enthusiasm exhibited by customers in the patronage of books during the academic year had greatly declined, because prices of books had increased.
“When the authors call at the place, we inform them of the situation and they explain that prices of printing materials have increased,” he said.
Another books seller who gave her name only as Faustina, said parents came to the bookshop with very long lists, but ended up buying only a few books, because prices of the books were relatively high.
“There is no money in the system now, so it is very difficult for parents to buy all the textbooks needed for their children,” she complained.
The Manager of Topman Books, Mrs Betty Aguadze, said the reason for the low patronage was basically because schools were in the second term on the educational calendar.
"This is the mini-season and so I am not surprised the patronage is low. Most students come to the bookshop to buy books to replace lost ones. They do not really come to buy books for the term, because they had bought them in the first term," she explained.
For his part, Isaac Nunoo attributed the low patronage of to the frequency in change of textbooks by many schools.
"Some schools come here asking for different textbooks. Some of them use books we have never heard of, and that is creating the problem. I think it will help if all our schools use the same textbooks," he noted.
The textbooks which were in high demand were Aki-Ola series, New Approachers series, A-K series, Religious and Moral Education textbooks, National Science textbooks and Macmillan Gas textbooks for science students in senior high schools.