• Parents unable to buy stationery list, shoes, etc.
• CAA unable to impose control price due to shortage  

BY Dinitha Rathnayake   Due to the high price of stationery and school items, children are facing difficulties in continuing their educational activities, The Morning learnt. Speaking to The Morning, electrician and Kuliyapitiya resident Pradeep Nishantha said that he could not buy school items or stationery for his two daughters due to the current prices. “The price of a pair of school shoes has increased from Rs. 1,550, to Rs. 3,780. I have two daughters who are schooling and we face great difficulty in buying shoes for both of them. We spent around Rs. 38,000 buying the stationery list for school for this year. The price of a pencil has increased from Rs. 10 to Rs. 40. We cannot afford to send our children to school like this.” A single mother with two children, Prashanthi Ruwangi, also speaking to The Morning, said that she is not sending her children to school as she cannot buy them the school materials. “I’m a single mother and am working as a daily labourer. I only earn Rs. 850-1,000 per day. I have to choose either to feed my family or to send my children to school. They don’t wear shoes to school. Even the rubber slippers, we cannot afford because of the price increase. It was around Rs. 200 before but has increased up to Rs. 500 now.” Meanwhile, according to stationery selling outlets, all prices have increased to a point where they cannot offer a stable price because of the rapidly changing prices. “A cardboard file was Rs. 5-10 a few months ago but is now sold at Rs. 40. The cost of an A4 size paper was Rs. 2-5 but has now increased up to Rs. 12. A black and white printout is around Rs. 50.” In terms of paper based stationery, exercise notebooks hold the most considerable market revenue and volume share by type, while in the non-paper stationery segment, pens, and pencils account for the highest revenue and volume share in the overall Sri Lanka stationery market, according to reports. Government students have access to textbooks because they are being provided for, but the students who attend international schools have to buy textbooks. In addition, some parents are seeking to buy second hand books while they also do not buy the whole stationery list in one go. According to the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), it is not easy to have a control price at this moment due to the non-availability of items.