Nashik: Soaring inflation has led to a 20–25% increase in the prices of school supplies, placing significant strain on parents’ budgets even before the new academic year begins. Parents are concerned as the costs of all essential items, including uniforms, notebooks, textbooks, school bags, shoes, and tiffin boxes, have risen sharply.
Crowds of parents can be seen at book and stationery shops in areas like Ravivar Karanja, Main Road, Bhadrakali, and Ashok Stambh. This year, products designed to appeal to children, such as lightweight ergonomic bags, steel water bottles with push-button lids, attractive tiffin boxes, notebooks featuring cartoon characters, and various types of pencil boxes, are available, but parents are dismayed by the higher prices compared to last year.
Shopkeepers attribute the price hikes to rising fuel costs, which have driven up the costs of paper, plastic, fabric, and transportation. School bags that cost ₹500–₹700 last year are now priced between ₹700 and ₹1,200. Water bottles have nearly doubled in price, from ₹200–₹350 to ₹350–₹600. Pencil boxes, tiffin boxes, colour boxes, shoes, and uniforms have all seen significant increases.
School Fees Also Up
Adding to parents’ woes, all private schools in the city have raised their fees by 10% or more, compounding the financial burden.
Parent Dhanashree Pawar said, “There has been a massive hike in the prices of school supplies this year. I recently paid my child’s fees, which had also increased. Now, with school supplies becoming costlier, the financial burden has risen further. The monthly budget gets exhausted early on, and I simply don’t know how to plan for the remaining expenses.”
Parents and education activists have urged the government to take immediate measures to curb inflation. The rise in costs ahead of the new academic year has increased financial pressure on middle-class and low-income families.
