Government will no longer be providing free textbooks to the majority of students as it seeks to cut costs, says Education Minister Anthony Garcia.
Garcia announced the measure yesterday while being interviewed on CNC3’s Morning Brew.
In the current system, students are given use of books for the school year, which they must return.
The ministry then replenishes the stock of books as some are lost or damaged.
This system applied to books from primary school to Form 6.
This year, only ten per cent of the books will be replenished for two classes, Form One and primary school infants.
The replacement of special education resources will continue to be 100 per cent funded by Government.
This means other students would need to rely on their parents to provide all of their textbooks.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Garcia said Government was set to save $119 million as a result of cutting back on the provision of textbooks.
He said the measure, which was decided by Cabinet, followed an ongoing series of fiscal adjustments since the 2015/2016 budget was read in October.
The total cost to provide books prior to the decision for the most recent school year would have been $138 million.
After the Cabinet’s decision, the new cost for school books is $19 million.
Garcia said the decision was taken based on Government’s financial position.
Former Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran announced early this month that the country was in a recession.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert also put forward a motion in Parliament to increase the country’s borrowing capacity by $50 billion under the Development Loans Act, External Loans Act and the Guarantee of Loans (Companies) Act.
In October, Garcia said the Education Ministry owed $600 million to suppliers and contractors.
Many public servants are yet to be paid their outstanding backpay, estimated to be over $5 b.
Parents concerned
Parents yesterday raised concerns that the additional cost of textbooks for them would be approximately more than $1,000 per family.
“That’s going to be very hard,” said father of one, Rozanno Williams.
“They already telling us we are in a recession and so we are soon going to feel the effects of that.
“This is just one more thing that is making it harder for us.”
Other parents took a more practical view of the situation.
“It will be hard but if I have no choice I will have to make the sacrifice,” said Levi Pasqual, whose five-year-old daughter is now in the primary school system.
Another parent, Dana Mungroo, who has two children, one a primary school pupil, and the other a Form Two student, said while the situation was sad, she understood that if the Government already made a decision, she didn’t have a choice.
“It means I will have to sacrifice a little something extra to spend on textbooks but I will find a way to do it.”
Stakeholders respond
President of the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) Zena Ramatali yesterday said the Garcia needed to give more details on this latest announcement.
Ramatali also raised concerns about students from low socio-economic backgrounds.
“The well-to-do parents could go purchase books but the people who will be most affected are those from the lower socio-economic backgrounds.
“We hope the ministry could reconsider. The ones that stand to lose are the children from low socio-economic backgrounds who already attend low-performing schools.”
She felt this could put some children at even more of a disadvantage to others.
“We want to know exactly how it will impact on teaching and learning. We need to know what will be in place,” Ramatali said.
“We are very concerned about the issue of the reading texts from Standards One to Three.
The results of the national test showed children scored less in reading and comprehension than before.”
She said she wanted to advocate that the reading texts for those students were retained.
President of the T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Devanan Sinanan said his organisation respected the right of Government to opt to such policy positions.
“They obviously have their reasons for adopting that position. Under the circumstances we respect that. It would have been nice if we were consulted prior to the announcement,” Sinanan said.