Digital books: Free, but not cheap Henricus W Ismanthono Jakarta | Sat, 08/02/2008 12:33 PM | Opinion
For parents, the beginning of the school year means the same old fees: "admission fees", "building development fees", "extra curricular fees", "sports fees", "study tour fees", "semester test fees", "farewell party fees" -- and, of course, at least Rp. 1 million in textbook fees, per student per semester. Unfortunately, parents have to bear the increasing cost of education if they want to ensure their children's place in an elementary school -- let alone if they want to send them to junior high or high school. These financial burdens have made paying for school something of a "mission impossible" for parents. Very few schools in Jakarta contribute to education fees, even the (not so) free schools, such as in West Jakarta. One crucial problem with schools nowadays is the provision of student textbooks. In January, the National Education Ministry, using ministerial regulation no. 2/2008, set in motion a plan to purchase books -- including copyright fees -- from writers and publishers for elementary through high schools. Their current target is 295 such titles. For this, the ministry set aside Rp 20 billion, to avoid skyrocketing textbook prices. Sounds pretty fantastic and promising, doesn't it? The ministry's plan is to digitize books and make them available online. First, the appearance, content and practical value of a book have to be approved by the ministry's Center for National Standards in Education (BSNP). If approved, books are then uploaded to the Internet, where they be accessed free of charge by any student, in any school across the country. Of the total number of textbooks submitted thus far, a combined 49 for elementary and junior high school have been accepted by BSNP and made available online from the National Education website. Teachers, commercial booksellers and parents also have electronic access. Despite such availability, there are restrictions, which we will now examine more closely. First, the education ministry needs to let teachers know digital books exist, as many have never heard of them, according to media reports. Second, for many teachers, computers are simply too expensive to own; even if they do possess one, accessing and navigating the Internet, let alone downloading a digital book, can be a challenge. For those who need it, Internet training should be provided. For this reason, and because the cost of Internet service -- from an Internet cafe or a media provider -- is likely beyond the budget of most teachers, they should be supplied with computer hardware and know-how. Downloading a digital book is quite costly for students, too, as is printing or photocopying pages. Due to higher paper and ink costs, Internet cafes and data service kiosks -- in South Jakarta, for example -- charge between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 per page. Forget about color copies! That's not all: Suburban students who need to travel to an Internet cafe will most likely have to use local transportation, which has become more expensive due to rising fuel costs. It turns out, digital books are not really free. For all the reasons above, teachers might not have enough time before the start of the new semester to find and use the offered digital books. Or they might just be too familiar with and accustomed to the textbooks they've been using to switch over. After all, new books require extra funds and extra time for familiarization, as teachers have to explore the best method of transferring new knowledge to students. That's not to say that some won't be interested in digital books, especially those willing to update their knowledge and teaching techniques. The National Education Ministry, therefore, should disseminate information on digital books and strive to make them more popular among and familiar to students, teachers and schools. In addition, the ministry could provide digital textbook sets -- say three to five copies per title -- to all schools in the country, ready to use and free of charge. The schools could then make enough copies of each book to satisfy their student populations, keeping the copies in the library. Students, in turn, would be advised to take care of the books, so that others might enjoy them. At the same time, and as a means of promotion, the ministry could recommend schools use digital books both for reference and as material for national exams. In sum, the key words for successful use of digital books are: familiarization, provision of equipment and cheap access. Good luck! The writer is a lecturer in the economics department at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta. 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