«Today our children have no books. This is a disaster , especially in courses as important as 3rd of the ESO. The first October exams begin nowhere and the children are already late ». Who speaks like this is a mother of the Carlos Bousoño de Majadahonda Institute, who, like many others, has been affected by the problems that the Accede Program comes into force.

This is a book lending system for public and concerted schools, which the Community of Madrid has launched this course one year late. The program was developed to comply with the Free Textbook Law, promoted by Citizens and approved in June 2017 at the Vallecas Assembly.

The idea was that the Primary, Secondary and Basic FP textbooks were free for all those who voluntarily embedded themselves in the loan system. In order to participate in it, parents must deliver copies of the previous course in perfect condition, except for those in 1st and 2nd Primary, which cannot be reused because students write on them.

The initiative was welcomed with open arms throughout the educational community, since it meant free books for some 300,000 students.

Puzzling in the centers

However, its application is becoming a nightmare and is causing confusion in many centers. «It is very chaotic . We lack almost all the books. Not only is it the fault of the Administration, but the suppliers tell us that they have placed the orders, but the publishers have not made enough runs. They have waited not to go over and, in the end, they have taken their time over, ”they explain from the school El Buen Gobernador de Torrejón de Ardoz.

The approved law was accompanied by the approval of a framework agreement to ensure that the purchase of books by the directors of the centers complied with the regulations. However, this agreement could not be approved because the booksellers have submitted several resources and are still in the processing phase.

As an emergency measure, at the end of June, the Ministry of Education advanced 15,000 euros to each educational center to acquire books through a minor contract. This entry was made on the last day of the course, so that the directors of the centers had to organize the purchase of manuals at full speed. In addition, in many schools, the necessary amount exceeded that figure, so that the bill was subsequently paid by the Administration.

All these delays have unleashed the perfect storm: schools that did not have enough cash to order the books, publishers who did not have the orders in advance to schedule the runs and bookshelves that have been thrown away and cannot meet the demands of Your clients.

In many schools they have started the course normally, but there are others who have registered numerous incidents. From the Federation of Associations of Fathers and Mothers Francisco Giner de los Ríos, they estimate approximately 15% of the number of students affected.

“Families are angry because we find the news that there are no books. And what do we do now? First they sold us the holder of the gratuity when, in fact, it is a loan. You have to deliver all your books so that they give you a lot and some have been delivered incomplete, ”says Mari Carmen Morillas, treasurer of the Spanish Confederation of Associations of Parents of Students (Ceapa).

From the Ministry of Education admit that there have been difficulties in the implementation of the program, but blame bookstores and publishers for the situation. However, they argue that the setbacks have been small, since it was the first year of operation of the system.

Complaints of publishers

For their part, publishers claim that the Accede program is confusing and that schools have failed to develop it. All this has caused «insecurity in orders and billing». "Publishers are having difficulty scheduling printing and distribution," says a spokesman for the National Association of Book Publishers (Anele).

The editors will meet next week with the general director of Concerted Education and Scholarships, Concepción Canoyra, to present their complaints to the new system.

The booksellers are also considered harmed by the measure, since, if before it was the parents who came to buy their premises, now many centers commission the manuals directly to the publishers.

For this reason, they claim that this method be replaced by a check-book so that each family can buy the copies wherever they want. «With this system they will close a lot of bookstores in Madrid. In Murcia, 150 bookstores were closed and this year they put the checkbook, ”says bookseller Chema Gil.

The Accede program has added 1,436 schools, 1,158 public and 278 concerted. The public centers informed the families and, each of them, voluntarily decided whether or not the program was accepted. In the concerted mechanics it was different, since it is the school that had to be attached to the system so that schoolchildren could opt for it.

The problems that have been generated are very diverse, depending on the students. For example, many students delivered their batch of books from the previous year, but if the publisher has changed the text this course, their book is no longer useful and they do not lend the new one. The situation in some centers is as follows: «In 1st of ESO, everyone is missing the language book and half of the students in 3rd grade do not have books. We have orders from the month of July to publishers and they are not yet served, ”says Ana Martínez, coordinator of the Accede program at Mater Puríssima de Usera School.

To all this we must add the strict rules that the Community has given to the students who have received the books. They are told how they have to carry the copies in the backpack and even how they should take them. «The recommendations are extreme. You cannot write or underline and they tell you that you have to store the books vertically. It's all surreal », ditch Mari Carmen Morillas.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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