Yearly change of school books

From Bisnis Indonesia

School books are changed every year. It is a heavy burden on parents.

As a parent, I wonder why school books are changed every year. Is it because of business?

Leafing through the books, we see that the contents are the same. There is only a change in the order of material presented. The reason may be to keep pace with development. Even so, a yearly change seems exaggerated. A change every three or four years would be more reasonable.

Students should be given a chance to use books from older siblings and cousins if the contents were the same.

In the current economic crisis, where declining incomes and many people find themselves jobless, I appeal to the Ministry of Education and Culture to put order into the situation by issuing a policy that if there are no changes in the basic material in books, school books should not be changed.

This will certainly alleviate the burden of parents who have to cope with tremendous price increases of staple food, which range from 100 percent to 300 percent.

SURYANTO W.

Bekasi, West Java