At least $100 needed to provide first-year schoolchild in Armenia with
school appliances

YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. Expenses for equipping a first-year
schoolchild with everything necessary for school will amount to at
least $100, excluding sportswear, Vilen Khachatryan, an economist,
told journalists on Saturday.

He said that ahead of holidays, as a rule, prices for goods relating
to these holidays grow. The same goes with school appliances – the
closer September 1, the higher prices.

“This largely depends on purchasers’ approach – to buy all the
necessary appliances at once and traders’ wish to gain as much as
possible immediately,” Khachatryan said.

This is also connected with many economic entities’ disability to set
up long-term plans and marketing. They could sell the same goods over
a longer period of time without any difficulty.

Armen Poghosyan, chairman of the Armenian Consumers Association, on
his side, said that the population’s solvency remains quite low amid
the growing prices.

“It is important to think not only about material problems, but also
about implanting spiritual and cultural values into schoolchildren’s
minds,” he said.

Poghosyan also pointed out the necessity of border certification of
goods stressing that many school appliances are shoddy.

“Certification was once made immediately after examination of imports
on borders, and shoddy goods are barred from entering the country,
while now, after legislative changes, certification is made in shops
or not made at all very soon,” he said.

Some 10,500 children enrollment applications are already submitted to
Yerevan’s elementary schools. In 2013, the capital’s elementary
schools enrolled 11,700 children.

Yerevan has 159 municipal schools, which were attended by 79,017
students in the 2013-2014 academic year. —0—-

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress