High prices, poor quality
PARENTS doing back to school shopping claim the quality of goods they are forking out hard-earned dollars for are not worth the price tag.
Mother of two, Kinisimere Talei, said it was hard to understand how prices for poor quality school stationery had increased significantly.
“Over the past few years of doing back-to-school shopping, I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of changes, especially with the prices of books,” she said.
“The books we used to purchase for $1.20 are now sold at $1.75 and the prices of other stationery have skyrocketed as well.
“Not only that, the quality of some stationery has gotten worse, for example, technical drawing sets were robust before but now they break so easily.”
Ms Talei was one of the few parents who did not apply for government’s $200 per student back to school cash assistance.
“I normally do my back-to-school shopping before Christmas so today (last week) my kids and I are just shopping for a few more school items.”
She urged parents that applied for the cash assistance to use the money wisely.
“As the new academic year is about to begin, it would be wise for parents to use the money for the appropriate reasons, and that is their children.”
WHEN the previous government rolled out its $180 per child assistance, only one of Luke Tavisa’s children received it.
He lauded the coalition Government for living up to its promise this time around as all three of his children received the $200 support per student last Wednesday.
The Makoi, Suva, resident has done his shopping and said the assistance came “just in time”.
“We were told that we would receive the $200 on January 25 and are just so grateful to this Government for keeping their promise,” he said.
“With this cash assistance it feels like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders especially since I have three children.”
Mr Tavisa said life had been hard the past couple of years, not just on his family but also for other low-income families.
“Last year when I had applied for the $180 for all three of my children, only one child received it and we struggled a bit financially but we are so grateful that it’s not the same this year as we had received the full amount on Wednesday at 5pm.
“I have a child that is in Year 7, another in Year 9 and the oldest will be in Year 12. This cash assistance will help with their stationery, sandals and books,” Mr Tavisa said.