TN Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi defends textbooks price hike

CHENNAI: School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi defended the price increase of textbooks, stating that it was hiked to cover the cost of book production.

The Minister further in his statement noted that the price of textbooks has been increased only to cover the cost of textbook production due to the increase in the cost of raw materials like cardboard, paper and printing materials of the top cover of the textbooks.

Detailing further, the Minister in its statement noted that textbooks are being provided free of cost to the students of Class 1 to 12 in all government and government aided schools of Tamil Nadu. And, students studying in private schools are also provided textbooks at reasonable prices. Subsequently, the statement from the Minister read that the price of the paper has risen by 63 per cent and by 33 per cent for the top cover, compared to 2018. “Besides this, the printing chargers of the school textbooks have also spiked by 21 per cent. However, the prices have only been increased after 6 years to mitigate the hike,” the statement read.

Hitting back at the AIADMK, he pointed out that textbook prices were increased even during the AIADMK government. As per the statement, the prices rose by 370 per cent in 2015-16 and by 466 per cent in 2018-19. There was a surge in prices in the 2013-14 academic year too, the statement read. “During the AIADMK regime, the Class 11 geography textbook price rose by 466 per cent, 300 per cent for political science textbooks and 325 per cent for commerce subject books,” the statement said.

Additionally, the Minister also pointed out that it is common for the government to hike prices of the textbooks every three years. Further, in order to help the students prepare for the competitive exams, textbooks are being provided at Anna Centenary Library, Kalaignar Centenary Library and district ones.