Federconsumatori: average expenditure of 606 euros for complete material (+6.2%), 502 for books (+4%)
After the high holiday season, it will also be stung on the school front for Italian families. In fact, the prices of books, stationery, backpacks and educational materials are skyrocketing. According to data from the monitoring carried out by the Federconsumatori national observatory, the overall cost of school supplies (plus ‘spare parts’) this year will amount to around 606.80 euros for each pupil.
In fact, the costs of school supplies recorded an average increase of +6.2% compared to 2022. According to the survey, the cost of books is on the rise: an average of 502.10 euros will be spent for each student for compulsory texts + 2 dictionaries. The change compared to 2022 is +4%. Buying used books saves over 26%. Expenses are particularly high for first-year students, points out Federconsumatori. A sixth grade student will spend an average of 488.40 euros on textbooks + 2 dictionaries (+10% compared to last year). To these expenses must be added 606.80 euros for school equipment and spare parts throughout the year, for a total of 1,095.20 euros. A junior high school student will spend €695.80 for textbooks + 4 dictionaries (+2% compared to last year), as well as €606.80 for school supplies and spare parts, for a total of €1,302.60 .
Amounts that are prohibitive for many families, to which add the costs to be incurred for the purchase of a PC, the necessary programs and devices. The Federconsumatori study shows that between computers, webcams, microphones, antivirus, basic programs, a family spends from 393.88 euros to 3,844.90 euros, with an increase of +2.3% compared to 2022. To this must be added the internet connection fee. By purchasing regenerated technological products, you save about 38%.
BRANDED BACKPACKS OVER 200 EUROS, CASES UP TO 300 EUROS
Also according to Assoutenti the “price lists of the school sector are on the rise for all products, to the point that only for the kit a family has to take into account a greater expense of around +10% compared to last year, with an outlay which, for the complete material for the entire year costs between 500 and 600 euros per student”. The prices of a branded school backpack easily exceed 200 eurosbut they can also break through the 1,300 euro threshold, a note states.
On specialized sites, according to the association, ”a branded backpack easily exceeds 200 euros, up to extreme cases where a trolley backpack with lunch box is sold for the record figure of 1,321.90 euros. The designer cases that are sold on the web with prices that can reach 300 euros are also very expensive. The diaries are less expensive, the price lists of which reach the ceiling of 50 euros on specialized sites”.
Between kit and books if you choose only branded products and new edition texts, the cost can easily reach 1,200 euros per student according to the association’s calculations. ”The government must intervene to avoid yet another bloodletting to the detriment of families, creating in collaboration with producers and commerce school kits with products at controlled prices in order to help less well-off families to buy everything they need for the school year ”, explains the president, Furio Truzzi. On the books front, on the other hand, ”it is necessary to heavily sanction schools that exceed the ministerial ceilings, and to launch an in-depth investigation to understand how it is possible that a book suffers price increases from year to year despite presenting the exact same contents as the last year”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com