This is well above the inflation rate which was 8.9 per cent for the 12-month period from June 2008.

Details of the change in prices were released Tuesday by the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) following its annual textbook survey.

The survey found that the prices of textbooks for the secondary level increased by between 10 and 13 per cent.

The prices of primary level texts moved up between 19 and 21 per cent over the 12 months.

The CAC this year revamped the book list used in last year's survey to ensure that the current list is in line with the requirements of parents and students.

However, to ensure comparative analysis, the CAC also retained 90 per cent of secondary textbooks and 71 per cent of the primary textbooks which were on the list last year.

The survey, which was conducted at 64 bookstores, revealed that some of the price differences were as a result of stocks of books from previous years.

Low demand

Racquel Chambers, research officer at the CAC, explained that some books, like Spanish texts, moved slowly out of the book-stores because of low demand.

She noted that, for its price comparison, the CAC did not compare a text revised in 2009 with a 2004 edition.

"We (CAC) compare like with like," Chambers said.

Of the eight bookstores surveyed in Spanish Town and Portmore, St Catherine, the price variation was significant.

Chambers referred to six books that showed significant price differences, two of which were English literature, two food and nutrition and one technical drawing and one foreign language.

In the Corporate Area, only the English literature books showed great price variation at stores.

Sixty-nine per cent of all textbooks surveyed islandwide showed increases between 19 per cent or less when compared to 2008.

Of this number, 39 per cent show increases between one and 10 per cent.

In the Corporate Area, the price of the Grade One Integrated Language Arts workbook increased by 44 per cent when compared with last year, while the price of the Grade One Integrated Maths book jumped by 35 per cent.

Half of the social studies books in the survey reflected price increases of between 21 and 30 per cent.

In the meantime, the CAC found that fewer than 50 per cent of the bookstores had the secondary-level textbooks in stock.

However, primary textbooks were readily available.

There was a notable shortage of textbooks for the subject areas: agriculture, economics, metalwork and building.

This, Chambers said, could be as a result of "low demand and (school-book) rental (schemes)".