Pencils, fountain pens, exercise books and envelopes, folders and paint boxes – the shopping list at the beginning of a new school year is long. While the summer holidays in Bavaria only started a week ago and many families there are still in vacation mode, parents in North Rhine-Westphalia are already frequenting the stationery shops again and stocking their school children with everything that school children need. NRW was the first federal state to start the new school year on August 7th, ten days later the children in Bremen, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt also have to go back to class.
Parents will have to pay more for school materials this year than in 2022, according to the consumer price index for Germany from the Federal Statistical Office. The prices for paper products such as college pads or exercise books rose by 13.6 percent in July 2023 compared to July of the previous year. Drawing materials such as colored pencils, fountain pens and paint boxes increased in price by 7.6 percent over the same period. School books rose in price by 5.3 percent and are the only school product below the overall consumer price inflation rate. This was 6.2 percent in July compared to the same month last year.
Paper prices had skyrocketed in 2022, and in October 2022 wholesale paper was more than 30 percent more expensive than in the same month last year. Although this price increase has been declining again since the end of last year, in June 2023 the price of paper was still 5.3 percent higher than in the same month last year.
Low-income families can apply for support
Paper has become so expensive, among other things, because the prices for wood and pulp have risen sharply. The fact that no wood can currently be imported from Russia and the Ukraine only plays a minor role, according to the industry. The Industry Association The paper industry in a press release on the half-year balance sheet, made the high energy prices responsible for the misery of the paper manufacturers. “The prices and taxes for gas are high and well above the level of 2019. All of this makes production in Germany much more expensive,” says the statement. Association President Winfried Schaur calls for a low industrial electricity price on the association’s website: “Companies in Germany now need this planning security. If politicians do not act, they will put an additional burden on energy-intensive companies and endanger these sectors.”
Just like industry, consumers also suffer from inflation. The high prices for school materials are likely to hit low-income families hard. The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has therefore provided the “Services for Education and Participation”, also known as the Education Package. Families who receive child supplements, social benefits or asylum seeker benefits can apply for grants. “If your child goes to school, you will receive a subsidy of 174 euros per school year for your child’s school needs,” says the ministry’s family portal. The services can be applied for at the responsible offices on site.
To ensure that children can enjoy a good school education regardless of their parents’ income, some federal states have free access to learning materials, and certain school materials, especially textbooks, should then be made available free of charge. However, this only applies in Baden-Württemberg, Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia, with restrictions also in Bavaria.