In our country where life is very expensive, when our money is cheap, the opposite scenes are seen. Bulgarian tourists, who came to Edirne for a day, either with tours or with their own vehicles, took the road to stationers for the school needs of their children before the 2022-2023 academic year. Stationery tradesman Tamer Dillek said, “There is a lot of Bulgarian density in our city, since they enter the country with ID cards. And now that it is stationery season, they are trying to meet their school needs from here. They prefer Edirne because it is financially convenient. We meet all their needs.”
FIRST COURSE CANTEEN PRICES!
The new education-teaching season started yesterday with great difficulties. While the increase in stationery products before the schools opened, give a hard time to the parents, another bad news came from the canteens. In addition to the discussions about the rents of the school canteens, the excessively high prices of the products sold in the canteens challenged both parents and students. If the parents give an pocket money of 50 Turkish Liras (TL) per day, they will have to allocate 1,000 TL per month for only one child.
The new education and training season started yesterday. After the price increases in stationery products, which were on the agenda before the season started, a bad news came from the canteens to the parents. While school canteens reflect the increase in rental prices on the products sold, the increases in the prices of the products sold in the canteens will affect the pockets of students, teachers and parents.
RENTS INCREASED, HIKES MADE TO PRODUCTS
The economic conditions that started with the pandemic and continue to worsen, continue to make a big hole in the pockets of the citizens. While the price increases in stationery products, which were frequently on the agenda before the schools opened, forced the parents and students; the school canteens, which became operational with the opening of the schools, also put parents and students into difficulties with similar hikes. While the canteen operators complained about the increased rents, they drew attention to the fact that the rental cost was reflected in the products as a hike.
BAGEL WITH TEA OR AYRAN COSTS 15-20 TL FOR A STUDENT
Okan Fırat, Chairman of the All Canteen Operators Employer Union (Kantin-İş Sen), reacted to the increase in rental costs from 5,000 TL to around 15,000, 20,000 TL, while the canteen operators had to increase the prices despite the price increases in the rents of school canteens. Expressing that the rent increase will harm the pockets of parents, students and teachers, he said, “Today, the purchasing power of a student has decreased. Even the cost of a student having lunch by buying a bagel, tea or ayran from the school canteen is at least 10-15 TL.”
A STUDENT'S POCKET MONEY MAKES PRESSURE ON MINIMUM WAGE EARNER PARENTS
A parent who gives a student enough pocket money to save the day has to pay an average of 25 TL to 50 TL per day, while a student's pocket money varies between 500 TL and 1,000 TL per month. While a minimum-wage parent is brooding over the end of the month, this situation, faced with the opening of schools, makes his livelihood even more difficult.