The Ghana National Association of Authors and Publishers has declared its intentions to put stop to the books they give on credit policy to the government and private schools for six months.
The decision, according to the Association, is the result of the continuous rise in import duty paid on educational materials.
President of the group, John Akwasi Amponsah said “In the book industry, we have a policy from the Florence Agreement by UNESCO which states that any educational material that passes through the port should be duty-free.
“We used to pay something small at the port to clear our books. What we pay has been out under port charges but in recent times, the port charges have seen an astronomical increment. Last year, we paid GHc 40,000 but this year we are paying GHc 82,000 for the same 20-feet contain.”
Addressing the media in Kumasi, the group then urged parents to expect price increment of textbooks for pre-tertiary.
“The effect will be that the availability of books won’t be forthcoming and even if the books are there parents and guardians should expect to pay more for it,” the President added.
The group then urged the government to create a paper mill in the country through a public-private partnership so that local publishers and textbook producers will have paper on hand to print books.
Notwithstanding, they believe that it will lower the cost of textbooks.
