Between 100 and 200 euros for 27% of the families and slightly more than 300 euros for another 26% is the expense that Valencian families calculate will cost them the textbooks. This is the conclusion of a survey - prepared, yes, with a small representativeness of 300 families - in the last two weeks by the Valencian Association of Consumers (AVACU) before which it is presented, according to its president Fernando Móner, as "the return to the most complicated school in history”.
The increase in the cost of paper and plastic, essential in school supplies, also threatens to increase the extra spending that families, adds Móner, who adds to this the "inflationary environment, with fuel at exorbitant prices, with the shopping basket at quite high levels and with the return of a summer in which the indebtedness has risen”. This is his diagnosis, while his recommendation turns to teachers and Administration to make it a less difficult September. “We make a call to attention to educators so that together we are able to find the balance”, maintains Móner.
With the latest unemployment figures in the Valencian Community, the CCOO-PV union requested a salary update on Monday and, in the context of 'back to school', requests greater sensitivity towards families. He believes that "the current inflationary drift is punishing the consumption capacity of families" and believes it "necessary" to activate the salary update of the working class through compliance with the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining.
Different studies (Idealo and Banqmi) also warn of how the rise in prices will especially affect this start of the course and place the cost at more than 400 euros, including the price of the books. An extra outlay that coexists with a rising shopping basket. "Inflation and the rise in prices make it a very worrying start to the course, since all those families who already have problems getting through a current month are going to have a very bad time," predicts Rubén Pacheco, president of the Federation of Associations of Parents of Students (FAMPA) Valencia.
In the Valencian Community, the Book Network Program works in all the centers owned by the Generalitat Valenciana. A tool to facilitate expenses for families, this course includes the check for school supplies in Kindergarten, Primary and Special Education for students who have 100% of the dining grant.
But setting up the course requires other expenses -books, colours, etc.- which, in some cases, pose a problem. Pacheco gives examples and criticizes that some schools ask for products from a specific brand, "when it can cost up to 10 times more than a private brand." Here the president of FAMPA Valencia recommends that families make a claim when this happens because "there is no obligation to buy any specific brand."
Fernando Móner also appeals to this freedom of families, who assures that during other courses they have been receiving complaints from families that their private centers force to buy in this or that establishment in a compulsory manner. “Let's remember that the freedom of the consumer is the most important thing, that each one decides where he wants according to his possibilities. You don't have to force anyone, ”he points out.
