The Spanish Confederation of Associations of Parents of students, today held a press conference offering comparative data on book acquisition systems and school canteen prices. We offer you today the analysis related to textbooks.
Alone in two Communities (Andalusia and Navarra) textbooks are completely free, using models of loan and reuse. This gratuity is included in the Plan to support the families of Andalusia and is a right of the Andalusians. For this course it extends to a similar number of centers and students than last year (3,439 and 920,455 respectively).
There are also three Communities in which families do not have help: they are Balearic (no aid has been called for purchase or reuse), Madrid (only the loan for families in a charitable situation is contemplated), and Valencian Community, where there are very specific aids for families in situations of extreme need.
Loan and reuse systems of textbooks they are especially enhanced in Asturias (where counseling directly helps families and centers); Canary Islands, with loan models; Castilla y León, Extremadura and Galicia (there are schoolchildren who receive aid in the format of the Bank of Books managed by the centers).
To finish the tour, it is necessary to mention Aragón, Cantabria, Castilla la Mancha, Ceuta, Murcia and La Rioja, Communities in which scholarships or grants for the acquisition of textbooks are called, but they are usually insufficient (between 60 and 130 euros in Primary / 120 and 170 in Secondary).
Apart from this data, There are many private and community initiatives such as book loans between families, textbook exchange fairs, and even educational centers (in Communities that the report does not contemplate as favoring these models) that have been with Book Banks managed by the AMPAs for years or in collaboration with centers, even with city councils.
In short, attempts (or lack of will) to make sense of the term Public Education are clearly distinguished; in this sense we may have to learn from policies to smooth inequalities in countries like our neighbor France.
