Budget for books

Buying books is costly for parents. Some booklists could cost parents thousands of dollars. Recently, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said starting September 2019 students do not have to use the latest edition of textbooks in classes, as the revised editions only have minor changes.

Newsday went to two book stores in Trincity Mall on Thursday -- Nigel R Khan and RIK -- to determine if this announcement has made any difference in parents’ consumption patterns.

At Nigel R Khan, store manager Christine Jagmohan described their sales as excellent, and said parents were coming in the store with booklists requesting the latest editions.

“A lot of the booklists say the revised edition or the new edition, and we have to sell the parents what they ask for. If a booklist says fifth edition and we give them third edition, they would come back. There are a lot of book lists that say which edition they need. If it does not say an edition, we sell what we have,” she said.

Jagmohan said a secondary school booklist from forms one to three can cost a parent approximately $1,600 inclusive of text books and stationery. For primary school students, it’s approximately $700.

Though it seems like a big bill, she encourages parents to be proactive and save for the occasion.

“I know it’s pricey, but then again, as parents we have to make sure that we allocate this sort of funds to this period. That is our duty. We have to find the money. If you know your kid’s book list is going to cost you $2,000 every July, then start saving from before.”Jagmohan’s daughter, Annamika, is going into upper six. She says she does not need to do any more back to school shopping because her daughter’s CAPE books were already bought in the first year of form six.

“I’m proud of her because she did really well in CXC. She did all sciences and she got six ones and two twos. She got four distinctions,” Jagmohan said.

Nigel R Khan is now revving up for back to school sales. Their sales started in the last week of June and they have customers coming in consistently to buy books.

“For some reason it has been busy throughout. Parents are more proactive. In the previous years we’ve had problems getting our stock in on time or from our suppliers, and people are trying to avoid that this year with the last minute thing about waiting till the end of August for the rush. They just want to get it out of the way and done with and move on,” she said.

The bookstore does not just sell schoolbooks but a wide range of stationery and school uniforms. They started selling uniforms two years ago. They carry school shirts, khaki pants and St Georges College’s girls’ uniform. The shirts are not monogrammed but are plain shirts.

“We have a lot of schools that use plain shirts, so they could buy it off the rack. Sometimes they have the pin up monograms, so they just take that and insert it on the pocket,” she said.

At RIK there was a different story. Marlon Williams, manager of RIK said sales for this year was not the same as years prior.

“It hasn’t been as good as last year. It’s been a lot slower. They are coming consistently, but the sales compared to last year are a lot less. Some people are reusing back their older books. If they have someone in a higher form they are reusing the books.”

He thinks Garcia’s statement on parents not needing to buy revised books is impacting the sales.

“Some of the schools want the revised books, but most of the parents will go to the people who sell books on the street and buy the secondhand books. You don’t need the revised editions. Some of the revised editions, they make one or two changes, but they are the same thing.”

However, Williams said books are still being revised. Books like the STP Maths and Caribbean Rhythms: The Emerging English Literature of the West Indies will be revised.

He thinks in August sales will pick up. For now, parents are still pricing books and will decide which bookstore has the best price for their budget.