Vendors who sell books, bags and sneakers for back-to-school along Henry Street, in Port-of-Spain lament that crime and the cost of books are impacting their sales this year.
Speaking anonymously to Guardian Media the vendors said shoppers were not venturing into the capital city and only people who are living on the outskirts of Port-of-Spain were making purchases.
“Men snatching til they have no one to snatch from again,” one vendor, who has been selling for the past 20 years, said.
The vendors said while the peak season for back-to-school sales is mid-August, this year sales are slow. Aside from crime, some vendors have also attributed the slow sales to the cost of school books and items.
Guardian Media did some research and found the average cost to fill a primary school book list for Standards One through Five students at Mohammed’s Bookstore Associates Limited and Ishmael M Khan & Sons Limited in Port-of-Spain costs approximately $600 to $1,000.
At GAIO Book Traders, a secondhand book store, at the People’s Mall on Henry Street, filling a primary school booklist will cost between $300 to $400.
A Standard Three booklist for Delaford Anglican School costs $647. This includes the Practical Math Workbook 3 at $150; Process Testing Maths 3 at $45; Instrumental English Language at $120; Essential Comprehension at $100 and Car’Rhy Reader at $120. The novel was priced at $35. In this list, the books cost $570.
For Forms One to Five in secondary schools, parents can expect to pay between $1500 and 3000 for new books and the price of secondhand books varies between $600 to $1500.
According to used bookseller Giselle Oliver, a Form One booklist costs $600 to $1500, and Form Two averages between $700 to $1000.
She said the Form Three list varies between colleges or convents and government schools. With convents/colleges costing $1,200 or $1,300 and Government schools between $700 to 900.
The Form Four she revealed will be around $1000.
One secondary school teacher, who did not want to be identified, admitted prices were exorbitant.
“A set of books on it and sometimes we don’t use all the books. They just put books, you might just use two of the four,” she explained.
Now according to the teacher, students not having the books at the start of the new school year would put them at a disadvantage.
She said Term One (September to December) is the longest and sets the tone and pace for the rest of the academic year.
The teacher added that all students should have all their books to start to school year, especially Form Ones since they are entering a new environment with a new style of teaching and academics.
“You want the child to start off in the right way, on the right foot, you don’t want the child to be traumatised ... you know what is to be lost in the beginning? It’s hard for you to pick up, you know,” she said.
Meanwhile, a retired primary school teacher with 27 years of experience, who also asked not to be named, said books are important for children to follow along.
“What we try to do is to see if we could get a used book from a child from a previous class. But sometimes that doesn’t work because the child would have written in the books already, especially in the lower classes, “she explained.
However, some vendors said they do their best to adjust their prices to help parents and of course, the children.
“According to your budget, we work with you, it’s a give and take and the children have to go to school,” one vendor added.
