Last-minute shopping for new term

Parents pack outlets to buy school uniforms and stationery

KUANTAN: With less than a week before the new school session, parents are busy with last-minute shopping for their children.

A visit to several shops here found the places packed with shoppers despite it being a working day.

Zikamsah Taib, 38, said she did not have the time earlier to shop for her three children, who will be starting kindergarten, Year Four and Form One.

“We only have the time to take them shopping for uniforms at the last minute. Even then, we had to ask our employers for some time off,” she said.

This year, she bought new uniforms for all her children so that they would not feel out of place.

Civil servant Zaiton Ali, 49, said she had to wait for payday before shopping for her two children in Year Five and Form One.

One of the children, excited about starting school, was fiveyear-old Wan Nur Syaza Humaira Wan Ahmad Jalauluddin, who distracted shoppers with her antics.

Her mother Siti Juwairiah Mohd Razali, 36, said they had gone to shop for headscarves and schoolbags after registering for tadika (kindergarten) yesterday.

“She is happy about going to school. I am also happy because this is my first experience sending my child to school as she is my first-born,” she said.

A supermarket supervisor, who only wanted to be known as Lim, said the management had expected a huge number of customers in the last two weeks of the school holidays.

“We started selling school items at promotional rates in early December and have been increasing our stock because we do not want parents to be disappointed.

“Based on previous experience, we expect more parents to shop until the last week of the holidays,” he said. — Bernama