The concern of starting the school year, along with the burden of tuition fees and the purchase of school books, haunts the parents of private school students. They hold their breath about the fate of the school book dollar for the 2022-2023 academic year as we enter August and approach the new school year in September. Some parents are desperately trying to exchange their children's used books with classmates, while those less fortunate attempt to buy books at an exchange rate of 4,000 Lebanese pounds for used ones or 8,000 pounds, with higher grades priced at 16,000 pounds to avoid dollarization according to the black market rate, especially for the last four years of schooling.
Bookstores have not yet started selling used books, as they await the pricing from the Ministries of Education and Economy to base their purchases on. When contacted, they respond: "We have not started yet selling used school books and we are waiting for the official pricing for how the dollar will be calculated." If, for example, the average price of an imported book is $30, under the black market rate (31,500 pounds per dollar), it would amount to 915,000 Lebanese pounds per book, noting that some books reach $60, while national books are priced at $10 and $15 each. This raises questions about the cost of school books and stationery that parents will incur, adding to the burden of an annual fee in cash dollars ranging from $400 to $1,000.
In this context, the Ministries of Economy and Education have started holding meetings, as reported by "Nidaa Al-Watan," with publishing houses. In the first meeting that took place two days ago, a dispute arose with publishers who want to dollarize the book according to the black market rate, especially since the support for imported books from the Central Bank has ended due to the depletion of the "central" financial reserves in foreign currencies.
The Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Abu Haidar, stated to "Nidaa Al-Watan" that the Ministries of Education and Economy are pressuring publishers to reduce the price of local school books priced in dollars by 25% from their original price. However, the publishers refuse this demand. The two ministries based their request on the following considerations: a part of the book is not dollarized, especially the rents of publishing houses, taxes, and some salaries, so they believe the price of the local book in dollars can be reduced. It is noted that the national book industry requires paying for the import of paper, inks, cellophane, and printing plates in US dollars. Will this proposal find favor among publishers?
In this framework, the Secretary of the Syndicate of School Publishers and owner of Dar Al-Fikr Al-Lebnani, Jad Aassi, confirmed to "Nidaa Al-Watan" that "the syndicate insists on dollarizing the school book according to the black market exchange rate because costs are high for them, and the book price has been priced in US dollars for a long time." He pointed out that "book publishers have covered 55% of the book price for students over the past two years; for example, if the price of the book is $10, we sold it for $4.5, considering that the publishers have been paying salaries in checks based on 8,000 Lebanese pounds per dollar. Today, however, with half the salary paid in cash dollars and the remaining half by check, the equation has changed."
Regarding the materials used to produce the book, particularly the imported ones, Aassi said: "For example, the price of paper has risen globally by 300%, as have shipping costs and transportation fees due to increased prices of gasoline and diesel. Based on these data, we cannot continue to bear all the costs, even though we pay taxes in Lebanese pounds, which have now become priced according to the 'Sayrafa' platform at 25,700 Lebanese pounds."
Noting the decline in book sales for publishing houses, he mentioned that "sales have dropped by 94% due to the reliance on exchanging used books among parents in private schools, thus the cost of printing 30,000 books differs from printing 300,000 books as it used to be." He emphasized the erroneous policies adopted previously by the Central Bank to support imported books instead of Lebanese ones. Aassi stressed that "publishing houses cannot remain scapegoats."
Regarding the issue of purchasing imported materials for book production according to the "Sayrafa" price like other traders, Aassi affirmed that "it is not easy to import according to the 'Sayrafa' price; this issue does not apply to them."
As for the official schools, books are provided for students free of charge by UNICEF and the educational center, thus they do not face the burden of purchasing school books.
Awaiting the outcome of subsequent meetings between the Ministries of Education and Economic Affairs and publishing houses, it is expected that the issue of the "local book dollar pricing" will be resolved before mid-month.
