Relief for parents as prices of school items unchanged

Parents don’t have to dig deeper into their pockets to purchase school items as their prices have remained unchanged compared with the same time last year.

A survey by The Citizen in some parts of Dar es Salaam on prices of textbooks and school uniform established that prices remained stable as parents rushed to buy various school items over the weekend.

A Tegeta resident, Mr Hamisa Mohamed, said that she was relieved to find that prices of school books were the same as last year after she had spent a lot during the Christmas holidays and was left with little savings for school items before schools opened yesterday.

“I thought my two children had all the necessary schoolbooks, only to realise at the last minute that some of the books were missing, prompting me to go out shopping, but I’m relieved that the prices have not changed,” she said.

Exercise books were sold at the same price of between Sh300 and Sh500 apiece.

The prices of a ream of plain paper remained the same as last year, selling at Sh10,000, while counter books were sold at Sh2,000 each at various shops in the city.

Shopkeepers said business had been slow since schools closed towards the end of last year, but started to pick up in the New Year.

Some parents complained that prices had shot up as people thronged shops to but school items last weekend.

he children flocked to his shop to purchase the school supplies.