School textbooks, notebooks to cost 40% more from next academic year

Officials from TN’s paper industry said the hike was inevitable as rates of raw material, including ink and aluminum plates, have drastically increased in the last few months. “Moreover, the price of paper, which are imported, have also gone up by more than 30%,” L Kumar, Chennai Printing Press Welfare Association senior member told DT Next. “Delay in imports is another reason printers did not get papers on time and were forced to purchase in local markets for high prices,” he added. Price of aluminum plates have increased between Rs 300-350/kg and the cost of ink has been hiked to Rs 400 from 300/kg,” he added. Rates of pulps and chemicals have also gone up.

A senior official from the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Service Corporation, seeking anonymity, said Class 1-12 textbooks are printed by the Corporation in 80 GSM printing paper and 230 GSM aura fold blue board for wrapper with lamination.”Prices of these papers have been constantly rising and accordingly price tags will be changed. Five crore textbooks are printed every year as per requirement,” he said.

K Baskara Perumal, a leading wholeseller dealer of textbooks and notebooks in the city, said that due to price increase in printing and other related material, students have to pay about Rs 50 per one quire (130 pages) notebook against the earlier price of Rs 35. “Even for king-size notebook, containing 156 pages, the price has been increased from Rs 55 to Rs 65,” he added. He said A4 size GSM paper (containing 100 sheets), which was widely used by college students for projects, was earlier sold for Rs 155 but would now cost Rs 210. “Chartsheets containing 80 pieces, are now sold for Rs 670 against the earlier Rs 540.”

On the student’s textbooks, KR Nandhakumar, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Private Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher Secondary, and CBSE schools, said the price of textbooks from Classes 1-12 have gone up between 30 and 40%. “The government charges us for all the new textbooks according to the revised price,” he said.