Parents purchasing textbooks for their children this academic year were unsurprisingly met with price increases at both the primary and secondary levels.

The price increases are largely attributed to higher costs for publishing materials.

IRIE FM News canvassed bookstores this past week to get a picture of the costs parents are facing as it relates to procuring textbooks.

The manager of Book Jungle in Ocho Rios St. Ann, Lisa O’Connor Dennie believes prices at the primary level increased by roughly 10% when compared with the last academic year.

She said despite the higher prices, parents are buying the required texts.

Some have however expressed concern about their investment and whether students will actually utilize the textbooks.

Meantime, Public Relations Officer at Book Depot Limited in Kingston, Kerry Ann Clarke, confirmed that book prices have indeed gone up. Her estimate is a bit more conservative.

The findings were in line with those of the Consumer Affairs Commission which indicated that its survey showed on average, the prices of school textbooks increased by 6.61%.

It said this year’s islandwide average price increase was lower than the average increase observed last year by 2.4 percentage points.

In 2023, textbook prices saw an average increase of 9%.