Thirteen million textbooks are produced in Debrecen
In the next few days, the production of all the textbooks required for the start of the academic year will be completed – the Secretary of State for Public Education of the Ministry of the Interior announced on July 21 in Debrecen. Zoltán Maruzsa highlighted at the press conference held at Alföldi Nyomda:
despite the difficulties caused by wartime inflation, the increase in the price of paper and all technical and logistical obstacles, 13 million textbooks were produced without disturbance.
This is due to the fact that in previous years it was necessary for the sake of the government of security of supply; such was the case, for example, of the acquisition of Alföldi Nyomda by Könyvtárellátó Nonprofit Kft. (Kello), which resulted in very good cooperation, said the state secretary. Zoltán Maruzsa also said that institutions can choose from 2,435 textbooks and workbooks in the list of textbooks for the next academic year, and in the fall revised textbooks will arrive for three new grades – the 3rd, 7th and 11th – some of which are not only paper-based, but is available in a digital version.
Zsolt Tőczik, the managing director of Kello, said that schools ordered books worth HUF 11.8 billion this year, of which HUF 329 million were spent on teaching materials for children with special educational needs (SEN). 83 percent of the 13 million textbooks ordered are state-published, he noted. Despite the fact that the printing and logistics costs of textbooks have been greatly increased this year, the average state textbook price has never been so low, HUF 630 gross, compared to the average price of non-state textbooks of HUF 2,075, the leader added.
Zsolt Tőczik also mentioned that the preparation of the printing work started at the beginning of the year, the substantive work took place between May and July, and now 95 percent of the completed textbooks are already in Kello’s warehouses, the rest will arrive by Monday, and they will be delivered to around 4,100 schools in August. Additional orders can be placed between August 20 and September 15, he added.
László Pósán, the region’s Fidesz parliamentary representative and chairman of the Parliament’s cultural committee, stated that Alföldi Nyomda and through it textbook production are on solid footing, as book printing in Debrecen has a history of 500 years. László Pósán also talks about the fact that in the modern world there are tendencies that act against the book, but the book and the knowledge, information and knowledge it contains will not be replaceable. And Hungarian culture, education policy and public thinking are “moving on a healthy path”, because they don’t want to replace textbooks with other ones, but instead use the new things of the modern world as supplements, said the representative.
István Puskás, deputy mayor of Debrecen, said that the production of textbooks in Debrecen shows the city’s place in the nation’s culture, and the printing press is also an important player in the city’s economy. For the city, books and textbooks are not only objects of use, but also symbolic objects of Debrecen’s identity, emphasized the deputy mayor.