Yes, September 1 Will Be the Most Expensive. ‘Zhoghovurd’

‘Zhoghovurd’ newspaper writes, “Exactly one week is left until the new school year. This September 1 will be the most expensive, as the necessary items for going to school have significantly increased in price. For parents with school-age children, it is a reason for new expenses.

On September 1, one needs stationery, a backpack, clothing, shoes, and textbooks to go to school, and these items are sold at various prices in the market. For instance, school backpacks start at 11,000 drams and can exceed 20,000 drams. Yesterday, ‘Zhoghovurd’ conducted a small survey among parents of school-age children about how much money they plan to spend per child ahead of September 1. It turned out that parents need to budget 100,000 to 150,000 drams to send one child to school.

It’s not surprising, as the prices of school backpacks in our country have significantly risen compared to last year; if last year one could buy a school backpack for 5,000-6,000 drams, now it costs 9,000-11,000 drams and even more. However, in our country, which has a high poverty rate, not all parents can afford to buy backpacks costing 15,000 drams or more.

Clothing prices have also risen, and the money allocated for clothing increases each year. Children’s clothing is more expensive than that for adults, and moreover, the range for girls is more extensive and has higher prices. Then new expenses arise; money is spent on books, and winter clothing is also purchased. In short, the average cost per student includes a shirt, trousers, a skirt (in some schools, the average price for uniforms exceeds 10,000 drams), sportswear, shoes, sports shoes, a backpack, a diary, notebooks, pens, pencils—this totals to at least 100,000 drams per student, not including the cost of textbooks.”