Shopping for school stationery

**Siwa Wadi (right) shopping for stationeries at Tango with her 11-year-old sister Sonia, who will be doing her grade four at Hohola Demonstration Primary School.**

WITH the 2021 academic year starting today, shops in Port Moresby were crowded on Saturday with parents and children shopping for back to school stationery.
Tango Trading at Boroko, Port Moresby, was one such store that had seen a large turn-out of parents and children shopping for school uniforms, shoes and other school needs, despite the rainy weather.

**From left: Monica Waine, Ashley Ezra, Laura Ezra, Jayjay Ezra, Nicole Ezra and Adrian Kila were shopping at Tango, Boroko, on Saturday for school and stationery needs.**

Parent Marie Kapil, who was shopping with her children, said enrolment was a challenge for some parents in terms of having to go from one school to another.
She noted that it was not like previous years where students could register without having to present school fee receipts on the first day of school but can do so afterwards.
Kapil said she was looking forward to sending her children back to school.

**Peter Kapil (right), 16, will be doing his grade nine at Butuka Christian Academy. He was shopping for stationeries with his mother on Saturday.**

Another parent Laura Ezra noted that school fees and the cost of stationeries including other school needs had gone up unlike the past years.
“We as parents, have to sacrifice for our children’s future,” she said.
“So I am happy to send my children back to school despite a challenging year in 2020, due to the Covid-19 which affected much of the academic year.”