I am still away from the office but I think this column from August 28th last year is apt for the period we are in as parents are busy preparing excited and not-so-excited students for the new school year.
“But mommy, I don’t like this bag. You say you would buy the other one,” an obviously distressed primary school girl said to her mother on the jam packed Regent Street pavement.
Her also obviously distressed (or was it angry) mother snapped, “I buying what I can afford, de bag you want is whole $10,000 and this one is $6,000”. Her words did not appease the little one, who was close to tears.
I had observed the exchange even as I looked for back-to-school bargains for my children. I did not make the mistake of taking them with me. I learnt from that mistake a long time ago and ‘wrung my ears’ so to speak.
I then struck up a conversation with the mother, who told me that she had two younger children, one just about to start primary school and the other about to commence nursery. The little girl with her was about to enter Grade Six.
“Is three a dem I have to buy for and I can’t say I not grateful for the cash grant but is like everything just raise and wha I thought this money coulda buy, it not buying,” she told me.
Eligible to grants of $30,000 (this year it was $40,000) per child, this parent would have uplifted $90,000 ($120,000 this year). To some this might seem like a huge sum but in actuality it is not (this remains relevant even with the increases, as prices have soared again). Yes, the government is lending a helping hand; by all rights parents are supposed to equip their children for school. But in this lean economy we are experiencing, some parents really cannot afford more than the $30,000 (or $40,000) that was given them by the state.
“If I buy the bag she want for $10,000, then uniform come up to almost $10,000, shoes I had to take one for $4,000, socks is $3,000, vest, tights and panties is another $3,000, pencils, ruler and them other fine, fine things is like nearly $3,000. I ain’t buy no lunch bag or bowl or bottle or anything…,” the mother told me as she explained how the $30,000 was being spent.
She said while the bag her daughter wanted appeared to be the stronger option, the cheaper one was what she had to purchase.
“You know is like everything gone up. Me and me friend did talking de other day and we say like them store and vendors and so carry up the price because they hear the cash grant share out,” she told me sounding very frustrated.
I have had that same discussion more than once and I honestly believe that many stores jacked up their prices during the week of the cash grant distribution. (I am not sure how it went this year as the money was distributed way in advance; just a few days before the June 12th Local Government Elections. So maybe this year it was different since the owners would have been unsure of when school items would be purchased.)
“It got to be that because some of the things I price just last week is more expensive this week,” one mother had told me.
Like the sister I spoke to, she also has three children and she had hoped that the money would have been enough to outfit them completely for the new school year. She was sadly mistaken.
“Some people say you know you shoulda wait until a few more weeks and then buy but I didn’t want take the risk because I know the money woulda spend on something else. If I don’t have food to give them or the gas finish and I have no money then I would take the cash grant and buy it. But if it done spend you can’t use it. So as soon as I collect it, is on the road I come and start buying right away…,” this sister told me.
Back on Regent Street, the mother with the still upset little girl said she had taken the child along because she just wanted to give her a little outing.
“I couldn’t bring all three a dem so I say let me bring her out and then you know I could buy a lil chicken or something for all three a dem. But the way this money going, must be just a sweet drink fuh she and back home,” she lamented.
Her words did not sit well with the child, who started to fidget more.
“I just have to thank God for his mercies and keep pressing on. I still thankful that I have a lil job and I have to try and pitch in to buy the rest of things,” she told me before informing that she had to go as she had work later that day.
“All the cash grant done in books,” a friend of mine texted after she uplifted the sums for her children.
For the second year (the third year now), the ministry thankfully gave the grant to children who attend private school. Many could not understand the rationale of it only being given to public school children. I know some reason that if parents can send their children to private school, then they are rich or can afford everything their children need. Not so. Many don’t send their children to private schools because they can afford it. In some cases they resort to private schooling because they are not at home to uplift their young children from the school in their catchment area due to its distance from where they work. There are varying other reasons as well and we cannot punish the children or their parents by not allowing them to access taxpayers’ money. Are they not taxpayers as well?
“Now I still have to go and buy everything else. I done tell them no new shoes, they will wear the ones they have until they finish,” my friend followed up with another text.
I responded that I totally agreed as I myself was looking at ways I could scale back on the expenses for the new school year. I guess COVID-19 made things difficult, after all for two years we didn’t have to think about back to school items. Yes we had devices and internet expenses but somehow it did not seem as pressuring.
The streets and stores are busy with school shoppers and I don’t think the ministry has to worry about how the cash grant was spent. I saw people digging into that lily white envelope in which the grant was contained and taking out crisp $5,000 bills to pay for school items. Of course there are going to be some parents who deviate (if there are no groceries then the children have to be fed) and some wigs and nails might be thrown into the mix but the majority, I am sure, did the right thing.
Let’s hope that meme with the teacher asking the child what their parents did with the cash grant because they had no pencils does not become a reality come September 4th when schools reopen.
