Textbooks rental price will be increased in Kyrgyzstan. Ilyas Sarybaev, Director of the Publishing House Okuu Kitebi state institution, told 24.kg news agency.
According to him, the new rental price has not been approved yet, but it will be higher to cover the full cost of the textbook. «Previously, the funds collected covered only a little more than half of the cost. If a textbook cost 150 — 170 soms, and we collected 20 — 25 soms a year, then in the end we collected about 125 soms for 5 years, and the rest went into the red,» Ilyas Sarybaev said.
The list of textbooks that will be rented out has been prepared and is being agreed upon.
In previous years, the textbooks rental price in schools was 25 soms. In 2023, the Ministry of Education reported that the amount was set at the time when the cost of one textbook was 125 soms. In the future, with the growth of textbook prices, the amount may be increased, officials warned.
According to the annex to the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution, individual students of general education organizations from families in need of social support are provided with textbooks for free or on preferential terms.
The category of schoolchildren having the right to free textbooks:
- From large families (five or more children);
- From low-income families receiving social benefits;
- From families, where one or both parents have disability of group I or II;
- From single-parent families;
- Orphans or children left without parental care;
- Children with disabilities.
A 50 percent discount is provided to students from families with 3 — 4 schoolchildren.
The lists are formed by the decision of the Pedagogical Council and approved by the order of the head of the general educational organization.
