Inflation has raised expenses for the new school term, and parents say it's taking its toll on their pocketbooks, according to the results of a survey released yesterday, the first day of fall classes.

The pollster suggested a school-opening allowance for all students and the advanced release of textbook allowances.

Last month, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong surveyed 225 secondary and primary school parents by phone to find out how much they spent on supplies for the new school year.

The study reveals that 20 percent of the parents said school-opening expenses accounted for 40 percent or more of their family's income for a single month, while 56.4 percent said such expenses accounted for 20 to 30 percent of their income.

Additionally, 87 percent said the price of textbooks was higher than last year. About 12 percent of the parents spent more than HK$3,000 on textbooks for each child, 23 percent spent HK$2,000-3,000 and 53 percent spent HK$1,000-2,000. Particularly, the price of a set of textbooks for secondary one was more than HK$2,400.

Inflation has been rampant this year. In July, it was high at 6.3 percent, the party noted. Aside from textbook prices, school uniforms, school bus rides and lunch fees have all increased. Although Chief Executive Donald Tsang recently promised a HK$1,000 textbook allowance to 550,000 students, another 536,000 students are not eligible for the funds, or any other subsidies.

To help parents ease their burden, the party suggested that the government release a special allowance for students who do not benefit from the textbook allowance. And as parents need to buy textbooks before they can claim the allowance, it will be a great burden for parents who have two or three children. So, the party suggested advancing payment for the textbook allowances from October to September, in lieu of reimbursements.

As publishers are releasing new editions of textbooks and raising the prices every year, parents are forced to buy new textbooks even though there are only minor alterations. To this end, the party hopes the government will impose no-modification periods, with different lengths for different disciplines. Some subjects, such as history, music and science, which do not change frequently, should not require new textbooks that often.

(HK Edition 09/02/2008 page1)