Govt allows used school books, free downloads

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 03/27/2008 1:02 AM  |  Headlines

Parents will be relieved to know the school textbooks they buy for their first child can now be passed down to his or her siblings under a little-known 2006 policy of the Education Ministry.

The policy was introduced in 2006 at the behest of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fulfill his 2004 electoral campaign, Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo told media leaders Tuesday.

"It was one of the first things I looked into when I took office, because the President asked me to," Bambang said while presenting the results of his ministry over the last two years.

"Parents whom the President met during the election campaign grumbled about costly school books and their inability to use them again for younger siblings."

Under the new book policy (introduced in 2006), a school text book should have a shelf life of at least five years, therefore encouraging not only hand-me-down books, but also the possibility of these books being re-sold.

"This is good for second hand book sellers," Bambang said, recalling his younger days in his home town of Yogyakarta when he used to frequent second hand book shops, browsing for titles he needed, and buying them inexpensively.

Hand-me-down books are not really a novelty in Indonesia. Many parents who grew up between the 1950s and 1970s remember how they used books passed on from their elder siblings, and passed them on to their younger siblings.

Those were the days of not only poverty but also large families. Hand-me-downs were an intrinsic part of their lifestyle.

The book policy somehow changed in the 1980s and school textbooks became only good for one year. The books were not worth anything for resale either, effectively killing the second hand textbook business.

Encouraged by giant book publishers, children were told to write their answers in textbooks, thus ensuring that books could not be reused. Schools also duly followed and replaced all the text books they used every year.

"We are breaking up the oligopolistic controls of book publishing companies," Bambang said.

In another move to break the control, the government in 2007 issued a regulation that allowed the Education Ministry to buy out copyrights of selected text books, upload them onto its website, and encourage the public to download and print the books free of charge.

Those who want to print them out and resell the books must not sell these books for more than Rp 7,500 apiece, Bambang said. "Call it legitimate piracy," he added.

In 2007, the government bought the rights to 37 titles and these are available on the Internet free. This year, the government is buying the rights for 250 more titles.

"These reform measures should allow for more books at affordable prices. We expect the cost of procuring books for children to be reduced to a third of what they are today," a brochure from the Education Ministry says.

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