Shopping for a New Academic Year
With the beginning of a new academic year for each and every grade in schools, all the Iraqi families have been preparing their kids necessary items to attend school such as book bags, notebooks, stationary and uniforms. Fathers and Mothers that are living with very limited income have difficulty providing these required school items. As some families have more than 8 sons in schools, this additional cost creates a burden on their balance budget.
The price jump for most school requirements and daily variation of market price also add additional load for the families, especially those with limited incomes. Therefore, families try to buy the cheapest available stationeries and clothes. However, these cheap items tend to be poor in quality. So the big problem for the head of family is providing these required schooling items continuously during the academic year because they tend to wear out easily. Families may have to replace book bags and school uniforms several times in addition to bearing transportation cost and other necessary school related costs. Some mosques and charity organizations assist these families but they are never enough.
Many families shop in this street because there are many wholesale stationery merchants, and the prices are more reasonable than other markets. Most Iraqi families shop from Al-Mutanabi Street and Al-Saray Market for stationery and other school requirements. Al-Mutanabi Street was the oldest street in Baghdad and the variety of literatures one can find there is as diverse as the Iraqi population. They include literatures of both Iraq and the Middle East: history, political theory, popular novels, scholarly works, religious tracts, technical books, poetry, and mysteries. What’s more, stationery and blank school notebooks could be purchased on this street, as well as children’s books, comics, and magazines.
[Al-Mutanabi Street]
[Al-Saray Market]
JEN Engineer Hamoody
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