Single-use text books: Parents allege racketeering in private schools

Parents have called on the federal government to checkmate the single-use textbook practice in private schools across the country.

They accused schools’ proprietors of profiting from the practice, which they viewed as racketeering.

Single-use textbooks are designed for one-time use, with students writing directly in them. The books cannot be reused or transferred to other students after the academic year.

Some parents, who spoke to our reporter, complained that the imposition of single-use textbooks was draining their finances and adding to the burden of paying for other learning materials, extra lessons and extracurricular activities.

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They said the single-use textbook practice is another way proprietors are arbitrarily hiking the cost of education.

They sought stronger government oversight that would ensure that private schools provide affordable and quality education without imposing additional financial burdens on families.

They tasked education authorities on inspection and monitoring to stop schools from imposing unapproved materials on students.

A parent, Victor Bassey, said: “I went into my children’s room and I screamed at the sight of the quantity of books there.  I went through and found out that some were not even used while some were only barely used. Yet, every year, I keep paying for books.

“Because of financial gains, parents are made to buy books that the children don’t even use.  Imagine spending as much as N200,000 for books, which the next child will not use. I spend as much as N800,000 on books that are not reused. My house is fast becoming a junkyard for books.

“The quality and faculty of the books are also questionable. Everyone is now an author, publishing unverified and inaccurate information for children to read.

“In this aspect, quality delivered does not match the cost of the books because it is all about gains and profit splitting between authors and schools, and not what the children will benefit from.”

Another parent, Clement Oloyode, said: “My daughter who is four years old just resumed for a new session in Kano when I was transferred to Abuja. I had paid her tuition, which included books. The books alone were calculated at about N40,000. But when we got to Abuja, the school we registered for said we had to buy a new set of textbooks for about 70,000.

“We’ve discovered that for every textbook bought every session, it is no longer transferable as homework and class works are done inside the textbooks and the teachers use pens to mark them even though the students use pencils.

“The concern among parents is that proprietors are colluding with publishers to ensure the textbooks also serve as workbooks even though we’re still compelled to buy exercise books.”

Mr Chuks John, a parent, said the solution is to enhance education quality in public schools in order to make enrolment in private schools optional.

“A situation where public schools are almost all in a decrepit state is not encouraging,” he stated.

Stephanie Shaakaa of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, in a letter tagged ‘A Parent’s Plea to the Ministry of Education’, highlighted the challenges faced by families in educating their children.

She said the escalating cost of education is exacerbated by the rising prices of single-use textbooks and compulsory purchase of educational items like school uniforms, socks, sandals, other branded school accessories and mandatory Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) dues.

“One of the most pressing concerns is the requirement for students to purchase textbooks designed to be written in, rendering them unusable after a single academic year. These textbooks, which can cost up to N8,500  each, are not only expensive, but also impractical for families with more than one school-age child.”

She urged the Ministry of Education to mandate the use of reusable textbooks to allow students to complete their assignments in separate notebooks and preserve textbooks for future use.

“This simple change would drastically reduce the annual costs parents face and allow for the reuse or resale of textbooks, making education more affordable in the long run.”

We sell books to ease logistics — Proprietors

The Chairman of the FCT chapter of the Association of Model Islamic Schools, Yussuff Oriyomi, in an interview with our correspondent, stated that schools sell textbooks to ease logistics.

“Parents may not be able to get the textbooks on their own or on time if they are given the option and may even delay in procuring them. Sometimes, schools issue textbooks to the learners to aid learning even before the parents pay. I wouldn’t use the word compulsory.

“I think siblings can still use textbooks used by the senior ones if the school is retaining the same publisher. Schools do often review their textbooks to get better textbooks and continue to improve their educational offerings,” Oriyomi said.

Another school proprietor, who preferred anonymity, said: “Using textbooks in doing assignments is to make the children learn faster. There is no law suggesting the single use of books.”

‘Publishers are complaining of high production cost’

The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Yomi Otubela, in an interview with Daily Trust, said some publishers complained of high cost of production.

“Hence, it would not be economical to do the real textbook differently and also do the workbook differently; that comes with extra cost because the workbook will have its back cover different from the main book.

“So, it is in order to minimise cost that they put the workbook inside the textbook, the real book. So, I know some of the textbooks are like that, not in all cases,” he explained.

Otubela also said that there is no textbook used that the state governments do not approve.

“Some of these publishers are publishers with a long track record of quality and excellence and after these publishers have published their books in accordance with the curriculum, they submit them to the states of the federation for their role as regulators to proofread, review the book and pass comments whether they are approved for use or not. So, any book that is used in any government approved school, that book is approved by governments.

“And as such, no schools will determine the book they will use without first of all passing through these processes. Hence, it is not a question for school owners to use books that children cannot pass to their younger one.

According to him, there are still some books “That children can pass to their younger ones, such as books from the West African Book Publishers Limited.”

Single-use textbooks unathorised — FG

Speaking to Daily Trust on the issue, Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Folashade Boriowo, said the single use of textbooks was not approved.

She noted that the ministry has a curriculum with contents for all the schools, which must be approved by the National Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) but produced by different publishers.

“What they may be using may be different from that of another school, but the contents must still be the same thing.

“The contents of all our books are the same thing, but those books that are recommended must have been approved by NERDC and there is nothing like mandatory single use of textbooks,” she said.