Parents in last minute rush for school supplies

Parents shop for uniforms at School Outfitters in Nairobi on January 2. Photo/Diana ngila 

In Summary

• Retailers record brisk business as prices of books, uniforms in most shops go up.

It was a hive of activity in Nairobi is parents made last-minute purchase of school items at various outlets ahead of next week when the 2014 learning calendar starts.

Most retailers recorded brisk business as shoppers flocked bookshops, supermarkets and school uniform shops.

“Business has been good since last week. This has always been the case at such a time every year,” said Kanti Haria, the School Outfitters managing director in Nairobi.

The shop is among the many that adds stock by October ahead of the December festive season to avoid stockout and cater for customers who prefer to buy uniforms in November.

Most traders have increased prices of uniforms and books, citing high oil prices and the 16 per cent value added tax (VAT).

Mr Haria said high oil prices had pushed up the cost of petrochemical products such as synthetic fabrics, which has raised prices of school uniforms.

Textbooks which were previously zero-rated now attract a 16 per cent VAT and the government yielded to publishers’ demands to shield them from higher operation costs with a 14 per cent increase in price of books, pushing up the cost further.

“Customer turnout has been good in the past few days,” said an attendant at Text Book Centre Ltd’s head office on Nairobi’s Kijabe Street. “However, some are complaining about the high prices.”

READ: Schools, publishers hit parents with higher fees burden

The high cost of living has significantly compromised my purchasing power, but we will manage, said Josephine Livudzuli, a businesswoman who was shopping for her standard seven daughter.

Besides uniforms and books, parents will also have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay school fees— 11 years after the government introduced the free primary education programme and six years since a subsidy was introduced for secondary schools.

“Some schools have increased their fees by more than 30 per cent through levies that the government had banned in the first place,” said Musau Ndunda, the secretary-general of the Kenya National Association of Parents.

“I have with me the fees structure of day schools in Nairobi that are running to more than Sh30,000 per month yet we are still talking of subsidised (secondary) education,” he said.

Ministry of Education guidelines have set official boarding school fees at about Sh18,627 annually and any extra amount charged requires authorisation from the ministry.

For majority of urban dwellers who had travelled upcountry with their families, the burden will be heavier as most public service vehicles have raised fares following the ban on night travel to reduce road accidents.