The school-uniform bill
Third week of August, the same panic in every family with children. What a school year really costs, line by line.
Zholdosh A. · 22 Aug 2021 · Issue 42 min read
For a child in primary school in Talas, one family gave me their August receipts. Uniform (jacket, skirt or trousers, two shirts) about 260 som. Shoes for the winter 120. A bag 55. Notebooks, pens, the gym kit, 70. The "voluntary" fund for the class, 40. The books are lent by the school, but covers and repairs are yours.
Total for one child: about 545 som. A teacher at the same school earns around 2,100 a month. So a family with three children spends something like two of those monthly salaries in two weeks of August. That is why August is hard, and why you will hear grown men sigh at the bazaar. The advice is simple and boring: buy shoes in June, when they are cheaper, and buy a uniform one size too big.
1 Comment
One size too big, I agree. In October it is too big. In March it is right. In June it is already small. I have been through it three times.
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