Ahmed Ibrahim spent last weekend wandering around stationery shops with a list of what his two children need for the new school year, due to start on September 21.
Ibrahim, like many Egyptian parents, said that the cost of school items, like notebooks, pens and pencils, backpacks, uniforms, doubled this year, in comparison to last year.
The 35-year-old engineer, whose two children are 6 and 8, told The Egyptian Gazette: “I was shocked with the soaring prices. I don’t know why kids should be burdened with all of these stationery products; 15 pens and pencils, and 10 rubbers? Why do we have to hoard all these supplies?”
Ahead of the new school year, most private language schools require parents to buy a list of school supplies which will be used throughout the year.
In addition to some 52,000 public schools across Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country is estimated to have over 7,000 private schools, over a hundred of which are described as American or international ones.
The government has been trying hard to help struggling parents by providing school supplies at affordable prices in certain fairs that are named, Ahlan Madares (Welcome Schools), scattered across the country.
Ahlan Madares Fair, operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Supply in co-operation with the relevant chambers of commerce and industry, opened on September 15 and will continue until the end of the month, with discounts on the wholesale prices of stationery, school bags, and school uniforms that range from 15 to 30 per cent, Ahmed Abu Gabal, head of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce’s stationery division, told the local media.
The prices of school supplies went through a 15 per cent rise compared to last year, Abu Gabal said.
He explained that such an increase results mainly from the rising cost of imported raw materials used for the production of stationery.
“While the local production of stationery, especially pens and pencils, covers up to 40 per cent of market consumption, 80 per cent of the raw materials required are imported. For example, the ink cartridge and the tip of the pen are both imported,” Abu Gabal noted.
One of Ahlan Madares fairs opened in the east Cairo’s Nasr City district, with colourful backpacks on display alongside an array of stationery items.
Doaa Ezzat, a mother of two primary children who was shopping at one of the stationery booths in the fair, described the fair as “excellent”, after she bought some notebooks, pens, water bottles, and lunch boxes for her two children.
“Prices are lower than the outside market and it’s such a relief amid price hikes,” Ezzat said.
“The fair has everything we need. So, it doesn’t only save money but also saves the time of going to different stores to buy various school supplies,” she added.
Since she enrolled her two boys at school in 2012 and 2013, Esraa Hamdi has bought the supplies list that the school hands out from a nearby stationery store. However, since the 2016 devaluation of the Egyptian pound, she has been looking for offers and wholesale opportunities including those of Ahlan Madares, which runs for the 9th consecutive year.
“The fairs offer a great chance for families, especially those with low incomes. “The good thing is that the exhibitors are either local manufacturers or importers, which helps us buy items at the cheapest prices,” Hamdi said.
