Sunday, 10 September 2017

Back to school:

 Secondhand book dealers do brisk business
Secondhand book dealers
With the rising cost of living and the ever increasing prices of text books in bookshops, parents of school children have found a new heaven in second hand books. These parents resort to the purchase of second hand or used books as the only way out.
                “I have two of my children in secondary school. I came to this second hand book shop because the prizes of school books are too exorbitant in bookshops. Also because government keeps changing books for the same class year in year out, it is no longer possible for child entering say form one to use the books that his elder brother used. So the only way out is this second hand book dealers,” said a parent.
                Because some of the prescribed textbooks are not available in bookshops, most parents say the only alternative open to them is the second hand book dealers, who do not only do exchange of books but also sell at very affordable prices.
                “Second hand books are cheaper than new ones even though they have the same content. Also at times you can’t find prescribed textbooks in bookshops and even when you find them they are so expensive,” said another parent.
                Yet, some parents say the resort to second books only mitigates a bad situation. They complain that unlike before when one textbook was prescribed for a subject, government now prescribes several books that must be bought by parents.

                However though, some second hand book dealers still observe that business this year is not as good as it was last year. They attribute this to the growing poverty in the country.
                “I must say that things are not the best this year as they were in past years. Usually during this period of the year I make 200 hundred to 300 thousands fcfa daily. But it is not the case this year,” said a second hand book dealer, who however noted that despite the poor sales this year he can still put food on his table and also send his children to school.
                But over and above, most parents agree that second hand book dealers are a blessing to them.




No comments:

Post a Comment