By; FUNMI ADERINTO, Kaduna
Education is a vital legacy that every parent longs to leave behind for children or wards, but in achieving success, there are basic items students need and one of such is essential writing materials.
Training of children in this era has a lot of tasks ahead, as parents struggle to ensure their wards have every necessary material to be used as part of their learning aids in class.
Primary and secondary schools in Nigeria have resumed for a new session, parents and guardians have raised alarm over increasing prices of textbooks, stationery and school items.
Speaking with some parents, in an exclusive interview, they lamented that sending their wards to school has added to the economic burdens currently being felt in the country.
But in achieving success, there are basic items students need and one of such, is essential writing materials.
According to Mrs Amaka Godwin, at the school her children attend, “school fees have increased, prices for text books that we buy for 1,000 have increased to 1,500 and 2,000, school bags and writing materials have jumped up, not excluding prices of socks of N50 to N70, which is now N200 and above, not excluding prices of cardigans and other school related materials.
On the part of school fees increase, another parent said her ward brought a note from the school to notify them of school fees increments, “also the school has decided that students should buy their books from wherever they wish, since prices from publishers have jumped up,” she lamented.
She said the decision was taken as some parents thought the school was the one adding extra money to the price of books and this will amount to lots of financial expenses.
Meanwhile, on school fees, some of the schools are under going decision to increase their fees, while some are contemplating, due to the recent surge in prices of books and other school materials needed for students, which have added to the burden on parents.
Confirming the development from bookshop owners and stationery dealers in the market, Mr Eze Nwanko lamented the cost price of essential writing materials, while also revealing that publishers are also lamenting that cost of producing the books is now expensive.
He said, “it is not our fault. It is what we buy that we sell and we cannot sell at a loss”.
Consequently, parents and students who cannot afford the new textbooks opt for old ones that are similar and are quite affordable.
According to him, to run an effective workshop this period in the country and around the world, is a challenge as the cost of materials used in manufacturing the items have increased, leading to the increment in the cost of their purchase, affecting supplies.
“The West African Examination Council (WAEC), students and pupils in exit class, next week will begin their final year exams,” Mr Eze further said, hinting that essential writing materials increase as students resume for writing WAEC, is not an easy task as it is characterized with one striving for success and sales is still at a slow level.
Mr Eze also said, the books publishers used to bring them for between N350 to N500 are now demanding N1,500 to N2,000.
Going on a survey at Sheikh Mohammed Gumi Central Market in Kaduna, revealed that 40 and 60 leaves notebooks have increased from N800 and N1,200 to N1,500 and N2,400 respectively.
Also, a piece of pen, pencil, sharpener and ruler now cost N50 and N30 respectively. Two years back, a pen cost just N20, while a pencil was sold between N5 or N10.
However, the prices of school bags have also jumped. The least price in the market was between N3,500 to N4,000, depending on the quality for either fairly used popularly known as Okrika, or inferior quality bags.
He explained that, “within the past few months, we were not finding survival to be an easy one, but now it is a different thing entirely”.
Also, original leather sandals for students cost between N3,500 and N5,000, while rubber sandals for pupils in primary school cost between N1,700 to N2,500.
Cost of textbooks, New General Mathematics is N2,500 and Intensive English costs N3,500 without workbook.
An average story book for primary school students, which used to be sold between N300 and N500, now costs between N1,000 and N1,200.
Speaking to a parent, Hajiya Aisha Umar, she lamented that she has spent every penny on her to buy few things for her children.
She said, items are just too expensive. They keep adding money to them every year. Imagine a biro costs N50. Something we used to buy for between N10 to N20 few years ago.
On visiting a seller of exercise books, Malam Aminu Dauda, he said, “the patronage of exercise books in Nigeria is spiking up now that schools have resumed, since parents procure them for their kids to take to school.
“This is because almost everyone who knows how to write uses an exercise book. However, it is a business, the essentiality of exercise books to students cannot be overemphasized, this is because it forms the basis through which whatever is learnt in school can be remembered.
“When students get back home, they pull out their notebooks and begin to go through them, be it in preparation for a school test or exams, hence the notebooks store the information which the student needs to go through at least one more time to recall what was done in class.
“It does not in any way mean that a seller has to wait for school to resume, even during holidays, parents buy exercise books for their children for home lessons, exercise books are not used by students alone.
“Secretaries in corporations and organizations use exercise books to take minutes during meetings, traders use exercise books to write their inventory as well as documents, their debtors and creditors,” he explained.
