18/09/2026
Whatever Happened to Passing Textbooks Down?
I was looking at my twins recently and found myself thinking about how much education has changed since I was their age.
I still remember when my elder brother and I were in primary school back home in Nigeria.
Back then, textbooks were something you could pass down.
There were commonly used textbooks, so if your elder sibling had finished a particular class, their books could easily go to the younger one. Sometimes, one science textbook could serve three or four children in the same family.
Some families practically had their own little “library.”
You’d see a book with the family name written boldly inside it because everyone knew: this one is coming back home after school!
And honestly, it made sense.
Children learnt from the same core materials, and families could reuse books instead of starting from scratch every single school year.
Fast-forward to today, and I find myself wondering where that culture went.
Many schools now have their own prescribed textbooks and workbooks. Some are designed to be written in, meaning they cannot easily be passed on. And if siblings attend different schools, the chances of one child simply handing their old textbooks down to the next can become even smaller.
Now, I understand that schools have different curricula, teaching methods and educational philosophies. I also understand why some parents like having books specifically tailored to their children’s school.
But here is where my concern comes in:
Education is already expensive.
School fees, uniforms, shoes, bags, stationery, transportation, activities… the list keeps growing. And for families with three, four or five children, having to buy a completely new set of books for every child, every session, can become a significant financial burden.
So I sometimes wonder…
Could we not find a better balance?
Could schools still maintain their academic standards while allowing more reusable textbooks and learning materials where possible?
Could schools, publishers and education authorities explore systems where books can be reused, resold, exchanged or passed down?
Because sometimes progress isn't about making everything newer.
Sometimes progress is about looking at what worked before and asking ourselves whether we lost something valuable along the way.
I don't think every school is doing this, and I'm certainly not saying we should go backwards.
I'm simply asking a question I believe is worth discussing:
Have we made education more expensive than it needs to be?
Because at the end of the day, the goal should be for our children to learn — not for parents to continually replace perfectly usable books.
Maybe this is one conversation worth having.
What was it like when you were growing up? Did your older siblings pass their textbooks down to you?