When the people are struggling to cope with the high prices of daily essentials and utility services, in such a situation the prices of education materials have also increased, making the situation of the people of limited income more dire.
Many parents are now being forced to pay even 30 per cent more for education materials such as books, notebooks, pens, pencils, calculators and other stationary items.
Alongside the cost of education materials, the tuition and coaching fees of students have also increased. Against this backdrop, parents are now struggling to keep up with the high cost of education for their children.
Not only the parents, the country’s publishers are also struggling to cope with the high prices of paper.
“On the one hand the prices of daily essential commodities have increased while at the same time prices of education materials have increased. I can’t understand whether I will pay the education expenses of my children with the fixed income or buy and survive on food,” private service holder Jahangir Alam, a resident of Uttor Badda area who is father of three school-going children told this correspondent.
Like him, Abdus Salam of the capital’s Banasree area said that as the price of educational materials is increasing like daily commodities, it will not be possible for middle class families like us to continue bearing such high prices of education expenses of children. Where it is difficult to buy food and bear the other expenses, the cost of education is impossible,” he added.
Visiting some stationary shops, it was found that the prices of the study materials and almost all the stationery items have increased. Even the price of a small-size notebook doubled to Tk 20 from Tk 10 in just some month. The price of school clothes and school bags has also increased.
Currently, a 120-page ledger is being sold for Tk 45 to Tk 60, which was Tk 40-50 just some months ago. A 160-page ledger was sold at Tk 55-60, but now it is sold at Tk 70-80, a 200-page ledger of Tk 60-70 is now sold at Tk 85-120. Loose sheet or paper is now being sold from Tk 250 to Tk 450 per ream depending on the size and company.
Like notebooks, the price of books has increased by 40 to 50 percent due to the increase in the price of paper.
The parents are not only struggling due to the increase of education costs, bookshops and stationery shops are facing problems as well. Compared to earlier, their sales have decreased. “We are constantly arguing with the parents. Sales are down. As a result, the shop is struggling to pay its expenses,” said a shopkeeper of a stationary shop.
Sharif Uddin, manager of a shop near Ideal School at Banasree in the capital said that the price of schoolbags has increased by 20 to 50 percent depending on the standard. Parents have to take extra pressure. ‘Jin Kai Jin’ is a well-known brand in China for schoolbags. Even in last season, the price of a bag of this brand was sold at around Tk 1000. Now it cost Tk 1400. Other bags made in similar countries have now increased from Tk 700 to Tk 1,000.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, he further said that parents now have buy a schoolbag made in the country at Tk 700 which last year was Tk 450. Price of medium quality bag has increased from 800 and are now being sold at 1000 to 1200 taka. Imported good quality bags are being sold at Tk 3,000 to Tk 3,500 from Tk 2,000.
According to the latest Unesco Global Education Monitoring Report, almost two-thirds of the total cost of education in Bangladesh are covered by households. There are more than four crore students from the pre-primary to higher education level in the country.
Meanwhile, the country’s publication industry has been severely impacted due to the price hike of paper in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Against this backdrop, many publishers are planning to limit the number of creative books and reduce the number of copies of books to be published in the upcoming annual Ekushey Book Fair. Many of the publishers are considering raising book prices to cover the rising cost of production and living.
“The price of paper has increased more than before and our sales have decreased a lot. The prices will remain like this for the next month due to the high demand for paper on the occasion of new year. Prices may drop by the end of January,” said a seller at Nilkhet in the capital.
A Banglabazar-based publisher said that they print and reprint books regularly, but it has become a difficult task for them this year due to price hike of paper and production cost. “If we print the books anew, prices will rise. We must think about the readers whether they will be able to buy books with higher price,” he said.
Like the publisher, most of the publishers of the largest book market of the country are disappointed as they are struggling to publish new books.
Mahmudul Hasan, a staff member of a publishing house at Banglabazar told Bangladesh Post that the price of one ream of paper was Tk 1,700. The price has increased to Tk 3,400. How is it possible to publish creative books?
