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January is a dreaded month for many workers generally and parents of school children especially.A� After the festive mood and the partying and record expenditures in a few weeks, it is time for parents to get their children ready for school. This, at a time when many shops selling school-wear have reportedly increased prices of their products despite Government pleas for restraint after the price madness witnessed in the run-up to the festive season.
Not only was the festive mood dampened by the price increases by retailers, it would appear even the school term will begin on a low as uniform prices have shot through the roof, leaving many parents that left it until now fuming over the ambushing by the retailers.
What this should teach our people is the importance of forward planning since those who were seeking uniforms for Grade Ones and those going for Early Childhood Development already knew which uniforms they needed.
This is not to condone the behaviour by retailers who have to change their ways. We believe retailers of stationery and school wear should behave responsibly, and exorcise this profiteering spirit that also tends to grip public transporters during holidays.
Some children will go to school without sufficient school requirements since their parents had budgeted based on the prices last year.A� There should be a difference though between those that budgeted less and those that did not make provision for their childrena��s school requirements.
We are aware that there are many parents that do not behave responsibly and are good at blaming school development committees and school authorities for excluding their children from school.A� Granted, times have been difficult but many institutions have made provisions for payment plans so that people pay at their own agreed pace.
Let us ensure that as parents we take advantage of such arrangements so that we do not inconvenience our children.
Also, when a child attends class knowing that they owe the school, they rarely concentrate in class since they would be wondering when they were likely to be asked to go back home and remind their parents of their debt. All these costs of school uniforms, books and fees weigh heavily on parents in the month of January, and it becomes worse for those whose debts have been rolled over from the previous year.
It is against this background that we would like to plead with shops to have reasonable mark-ups on their products and schools also to use the many levies for the purposes for which they were intended.A� Let no audit find that money was misappropriated since that money would have come out of extreme sacrifice by the parents, some of whom had to forgo the festivities of the past month just to be able to send their children to school.
The issue of pricing, we must say, is a national challenge that needs to be confronted head-on across all sectors and it is our hope that business, Government and labour come up with a social contract this year that will guide us in that area as the nation seeks to turn around its economy.
Inflation era Zimbabwe dollar attitudes keep rearing their heads and they must be buried this year for the good of the country. The Government has pledged responsible politics or governance.A� Would we be asking for too much if we demand a similar pledge from business?
Online Reporter