Parents’ big headache as schools open
Text books, school uniforms and high first term fees are setting up parents for a painful start to the year.
However, the Kenya Publishers Association shelved a plan to increase text book prices.
KPA chairman Lawrence Njagi on Thursday said this was meant to cushion the parents against adverse effects of increased cost of living.
“This year, we are not increasing prices of text books. We are mitigating the high cost of living which has really been difficult for the parent,” said Mr Njagi.
But parents will cough out more money to buy school uniforms and pay fees.
Many of them flocked bookshops and uniform centres on Thursday as the back-to-school rush set in, ahead of Monday’s re-opening.
In one uniform outlet on River Road, Nairobi, the price of a pair of shorts for a Standard Eight pupil was selling at Sh450, a shirt at Sh400 and leather shoes going for approximately Sh1,500.
Other additional accessories such as track suits for sports saw parents dig deeper into their pockets to have their children set foot in class on Monday.