Prices of exercise books, geometry boxes, pens and colour pencils have gone up but these are some stationery items that students cannot do without.
With the price rise, it is difficult for many parents still struggling after two years of slowdown and trying to manage other household expenses simultaneously.
The price rise is across all items like exercise books — long and short, drawing books, lab files — geometry boxes and oil pastels. These are essential products and parents have to buy them.
For example, a long exercise book (240 pages) now costs Rs 90. It was around Rs 80 two years back.
A 60 page (A3 size) drawing book is Rs 75, which was Rs 60.
Similarly, a lab file (paper and board combined-24 sheets) is Rs 50 that was priced at Rs 40 and a box of oil pastel of 25 colours that was Rs 90 has gone up to Rs 110.
A commonly used geometry box now costs Rs 110, which one could buy for Rs 100. The prices of all the items depend on the brand.
A mother and a single parent of two school-going children said this expense was a “regular expense”. “It is not that we require only one exercise book. In science subjects and maths, they are over in no time,” she said.
A stationery shop owner in Gariahat said the timing of the rise in price has made it more difficult for the consumers and tough for the retailers.
A girl at a pen store on College Street. Pradip Sanyal
“As it is, the market has shrunk in the last two years and now with a rise in price people are buying only the bare minimum,” said Ratan Bose, owner of Sukhendu, off Rashbehari Avenue.
Children have returned to campuses and the use of exercise books has gone up because in online classes many students would use sheets of paper or what they had at home. It is not so anymore.
There are parents who have had to delay the purchase of exercise books, prioritising textbooks.
N. Chitrer, whose husband is a security guard, has decided to buy exercise books for her daughter in Class X only before the school reopens in June.
“The price of exercise books is going up every year. Last year I had to borrow from my friend to buy a year’s supply, which came to Rs 3,000. I am yet to repay her the full amount,” she said.
“This year, I took an estimate from a friend that it will not be less than Rs 4,000. Since the summer vacation started early I got some time.”
The single parent with two school-going children said she had bought exercise books and stationery for one of her sons worth Rs 700. “It is for one son and it will last only three months,” she said.
In 2020, she spent around Rs 275-300 for the exercise books and stationery, she said.
Another mother, S. Siddiqua, spoke of how difficult it has become to “manage the the house with the rising price of essential items ”.
“Last two years were tough, there was a reduction in salary also. Even now to prioritise education over other things we have to consider other expenditure also,” she said.
The brunt is felt by shopkeepers too, both retailers and wholesalers.
“Even small retailers who would buy from us have reduced their purchase,” said Prabir Kumar Dey, owner, Nalini Paper House.
Manas Jana, a shopkeeper in College Street, also said customers had reduced their purchase. “There were customers who would buy three or four dozen exercise books together, but now they don’t,” he said.
There are many parents who cite helplessness before their children after seeing the prices and purchase what they cannot do without, Jana added.