It is available at a lower price of up to 70% compared to its price in private schools

Parents who buy textbooks from international online stores

Some parents stressed that the high price of books in private schools is not justified.

archival

Parents of students revealed that they resorted to buying textbooks from international electronic stores, instead of the places designated for selling them in the private schools where their children study, explaining that the educational books imposed on their children are sold in schools at a value ranging between 120 and 150 dirhams, compared to only 44 dirhams. in electronic stores.

They noted that online stores deliver textbooks for free, calling for schools to be obligated to fixed prices, and not to be able to manipulate them.

The administration of a private school in the Eastern Province confirmed that the approved textbooks taught to students from different subjects, such as mathematics, English and language skills, in addition to the science and story books, are imported from outside the country, which entails an additional cost, such as the price of transportation, and the value of the book itself. In addition to the currency difference, which calls for setting their prices in proportion to the cost of providing and selling them in the places designated by the school.

In detail, a mother of three students of varying educational levels in a private school in the Emirate of Fujairah, Asmaa Muhammad Ali, complained about the high prices of approved textbooks in her children's school, compared to other schools in the emirate, noting that she had to pay 2,800 dirhams in exchange for textbooks for her children at the beginning of the semester. current academic year.

She stressed that she will pay additional amounts over the aforementioned amount, due to the lack of all textbooks, which will cost her to pay an additional amount over what she paid at the beginning of the school year, which will increase her financial burdens that she finds exaggerated, stressing the need to violate schools that manipulate prices and raise their costs.

And the mother of a primary school student, Noura Muhammad Al Kaabi, supported her in the opinion, saying, “I transferred my daughter from a public school to a private one in the emirate, and when I went to buy books for my daughter’s school stage, I was surprised by the exaggerated prices of up to 150 dirhams per book,” noting that the goals What these schools seek is usually commercial at the expense of parents.

She indicated that she found the prices affixed to the textbooks sold at the school in a currency other than the dirham, and when she calculated them with the currency difference, she found that the price at which the book was sold had doubled, which made her retreat from buying it, and search for other places that sell it at a reasonable price commensurate with With her budget, she asserted that she had to buy books from a global online store, at a 70% discount from the price at which the school sells.

The guardian of two female students in the primary stage and the second cycle, Omar Adnan, considered the high prices of books in private schools for both systems, real and distance education, as unjustified, despite the explanation of school administrations that these prices are symbolic in view of the cost of transporting and providing them to students.

He stressed that the total value of the textbooks for his two daughters amounted to 1,800 dirhams, while he saved himself from paying this value, which constitutes a great burden on him when he preferred to buy books from an online store, selling them at a price lower than the prices available in schools, with delivery to the home for free from a period of five to 10 Only days, with a value not exceeding 400 dirhams, as the story book amounted to 29 dirhams, and the mathematics book amounted to 40 dirhams, and the English language and language skills book did not exceed 55 dirhams, in addition to the stationery that is of better quality than the ones that schools sell to them every year.

Additional cost

An administrator in a private school in the Eastern Province, who refused to give her name, confirmed that the approved textbooks for her teaching to students of different subjects, such as mathematics, English and language skills, in addition to the science and story book, are imported from outside the country, which entails an additional cost, such as the price of transportation, And the value of the book itself, in addition to the currency difference.

She noted that if the administration adopts the symbolic price of books, it will have to pay the amounts for delivering books and the currency difference alone, which may affect its budget allocated to pay the salaries of educational and administrative staff, and other expenses arising from it.

While the administration of a private school refused to disclose any information to the newspaper, given its privacy in dealing with the distribution of prices for school supplies and books that it finds reasonable and within the reach of all parents of students registered with it.

• Textbooks are sold in schools at a value ranging between 120 and 150 dirhams, compared to only 44 dirhams in electronic stores.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news