Workbook prices should be similar wherever they are sold: Assoc

FEDERATION of Stationers and Booksellers Association of Malaysia honorary president Datuk Tey Tong Seng said that workbooks sold at schools should not be any more expensive than those available at bookstores.
He said parents should not be paying more than the recommended prices, which are generally printed on the back covers of workbooks.
Commenting on complaints by parents that they are paying more for workbooks at schools, Tey said the, "same workbook by the same publisher should cost the same at both the schools and bookstores."
"As a rule of thumb, teachers would give due consideration to their prices when deciding which workbooks to recommend to their students," he told China Press in a report published today.
However, he said the same workbooks may be sold at discount prices at bookstores holding clearance sales.
"Some bookstores might also have ordered large quantity of stocks from suppliers to enjoy a good discount, enabling them to sell at below recommended prices," he said.
On the "phenomenon" of three-in-one workbooks, he admitted that printers have resorted to combining them to reduce losses following the Education Ministry's decision to strictly enforce the primary school workbook guidelines issued in 2000, next year. (The guidelines stated that schools can recommend only one workbook for each of the core subjects for pupils in Year 4-6.)
"Many printers have already printed workbooks meant for 2018 in June (before the ministry's decision to strictly enforce the guidelines), they cannot be throwing some of them. They have thus resorted to binding two or three together as one and charge accordingly."
He suggested that printers and suppliers discuss with the ministry on the problems they face and to come up with a win-win solution.