A single parent, Charles, who has a son entering Form Two in Fatima College, has to spend $3,959.44 on the book list alone. He needs additional money for school uniforms, shoes, book bags and other necessities to equip his son for the school term.
Charles has four other children, one in pre-school, two in primary school and another attending a government secondary school in Port-of-Spain. In total, he estimates that he spends more than $20,000 to send his five children to school.
He often takes credit union loans, which he spends the year paying back.
“It’s a sacrifice that I have to make but if I don’t get everything my children are at a disadvantage,” Charles said.
Even with the Ministry of Education promising to supply textbooks, Charles still purchases all of them.
“Last year, I got a book list and it was shorter because the teachers said the ministry would supply books but by the middle of the term the teacher asked me to buy them, so I want to be better prepared.”
This year was different. The book list was longer because reading books usually provided by the ministry for primary schools were back on the list.
Estimates from approximately 30 book lists viewed by the Sunday Guardian show the costs of textbooks from ECCE to secondary school level can range from around $300 to over $4,000.
A social worker at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital said they are getting more requests from parents for help getting textbooks.
“From the last couple years, it really looked like there were a lot more textbooks,” the social worker said.
“In the past the book lists weren’t so big, it was mostly stationery. We deal with really poor people, and they say they can’t afford copybooks or a pencil for their kids.”
The cost to send a child back to school doesn’t only vary according to the child’s level of education, but is also determined by the type of school.
At schools where foreign languages are on the curriculum and at prestige schools, back-to-school costs can be high. One parent shopping for books said she had to purchase three textbooks at around $200 each for a single subject.
Government secondary schools, which traditionally offer less subjects, usually have shorter booklists.
Candace Persad, mother of an eight-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son, said usually her children got one or two of the required books from the school.
“This year I had to purchase all and that is in addition to the money parents have to spend on shoes, book bags and uniforms. In my child’s primary school, the physical education uniform changes every year they advance.”
Persad said her son, who is in second year, had to get nine textbooks and she spent about $1,500.
“It affected my finances a little because my husband work slow up real bad and I had to dip into my savings,” she said, adding that it was difficult getting the books at local bookstores.
Annually, the Guardian Neediest Cases Fund gets requests for assistance with schoolbooks. Administrator of the programme, Maria Ann Sam, said requests have almost doubled this year.
“Last year we had 17 requests for help with schoolbooks, but mostly copybooks and notebooks and book bags and school shoes,” she said.
“This year we had 33 requests and it goes up every day. The majority of parents are asking for help to purchase textbooks.”
Book lists from some secondary schools are two pages long and the average price for a textbook is $200.
The costs for textbooks for a Form Two student at Lakshmi Girls’ College is $2,170.30. For an ECCE pupil the required list of items amounts to $265.63, while a Standard Three pupil’s book list amounts to $872.30.
Cost of books
ECCE—$350 to $500
Primary Infants—$600
Primary Standard One to Five—$1,000 to $1,500
Secondary—$2,150 to $4,000
Garcia responds
Education Minister Anthony Garcia said Cabinet intends to top up textbooks by ten per cent and he expects this to be done before the start of the new school term.
“There have been no changes to the textbook distribution programme. The Government has purchased approximately $40 million worth of textbooks for primary and secondary schools,” he said.
The minister said the ten per cent is based on the need determined by principals and school supervisors.
“The principals were contacted and they were required to do a check and the information that came back to us suggested that we needed to top up by ten per cent.”
Garcia urged parents to be patient.
“The procurement process is on its way. EFCL has been given that responsibility,” he said.