WITH two days left before the new school term begins, the market arena in Linden is crowded with anxious parents and their children trying to pick up the last of their school supplies.

While many vendors, both on the Mackenzie and Wismar shores are happy with the boost in sales during this time, parents are more happy that to add to their little pennies is the school uniform vouchers worth $2,000 that were granted to each school child from the nursery to secondary school.

During a walk around in the market on Thursday, parents can be seen bartering the vouchers for their children’s school supplies ranging from school bags, uniform, lunch kits, underwear, socks and stationeries.

Almost all of the stalls in the market have big and bold signs, ‘school vouchers accepted here’. Some very colourfully decorated to catch the eyes of parents.
The vendors also explained that encashing the vouchers is not a fatiguing task.
“Is not no hard process or so like you have to wait long or anything, is just for you to carry it and get through,” one vendor explained to this publication.

Parents also lauded the government for increasing the vouchers by $500 which is a “little but useful freck”.

“A mean people might say is just $500 more but with that $500 you can pick you fine fine thing like ribbon, socks, kerchief, towel, rag and it can really help out,” one single parent mother named Karen said while shopping for her four children.
“Is four of them I get and I don’t work, their father does hardly send something so with the $8, 0000, I thank God for because it really help out a lot for me to be able to send them out to school Monday,” the parents explained while busily purchasing the school supplies.

Another parent, in the Mackenzie Arcade, who was looking for school uniforms for her daughter who is now starting primary school, said the school voucher at least assisted her with one uniform and she still has change to purchase ribbons and kerchiefs.

“I am grateful for it, yes, because it help to do so much and I know many parents who don’t work were able to send their children off to school… I think it is a good thing the government is doing,” Arletta Plowell said.

One vendor Lucresia Hinds explained that many of the sales are coming from the vouchers and even after school re-opens, people would still use them.

She said all vendors look forward for this time as sales go up. The school vouchers were instituted by the previous administration at a cost of $1,500 but have been increased to $2, 000 by the present administration.