Friday, May 2, 2008
Government to Buy Copyrights on 250 School Text-book Titles
Source: Antara News

Bogor (ANTARA News) - The government will in 2008 buy the copyrights on 250 text-book titles recommended in elementary and high-school education packages from their writers and publishers in order to make the books available to students at lower prices, National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo said.

The minister mentioned the plan in his written address read out by Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto at a function to mark National Education Day here on Friday.

He said up to the end of 2007, the government had already bought the copyrights on 29 school text-book titles and set their ceiling retail price at between Rp4,500 and Rp14,000 per book.

"In 2008, the government will buy the copyrights on 250 more book titles mentioned in the elementary and high-school education packages and also set their ceiling retail prices," the minister said.

The government was making the effort with the aim of lowering the text-book prices and putting an end to school managements selling text-books to their students, he said.

After the government had bought the copyrights, any body was free to multiply, republish and sell the text-books at the government-fixed prices.

With the government acquiring more and more text-book copyrights, it was hoped the books would be available to students in greater quantities and at more affordable prices.

According to information collected by Antara in the field, text-books used in elementary and high-schools are currently priced at levels heavily burdening most parents` finances. A standard text-book could cost up to Rp50,000.

The managements of many schools require their students to buy the recommended text-books at their schools at prices determined by the schools.

The practice had become such problem to parents that the national education minister had to issue circular forbidding school managements to force students to buy their text-books from their schools.