Timely aid for back-to-school items

Ample choice: Parents shopping for back-to-school supplies at a mall in Penang Road, George Town. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: With the new school term starting soon, several shops here were packed with parents buying back-to-school items.

Trader Mohamad Noh Zainal Abidin, 40, took his daughter Luthfia Nisrina Mohamad Noh, seven, shopping at a store in Jalan Magazine here.

“This is the first time she is getting a uniform and she is pretty excited about it.

“However, children this age tend to grow fast, I need to make sure that the uniform not only fits but can also be altered to fit her over the next two years,” he said.

The father of three, who also has a 10-year-old son and another three-year-old daughter, said he hopes hand-me-down uniforms and sending the kids to school himself will help manage costs.

“I appreciate the government’s Early Schooling Aid of RM150 each, and with it, I only need to top up a small amount to complete the purchase of things for them to start schooling.

“I plan on enrolling all of them in the same school to make it easier and cheaper for me to send them to school,” he said.

At the Mydin Wholesale Emporium Penang Road, both primary pupils and secondary students can shop for 10 school items from head to toe with the RM150 aid.

Among the items they can buy are a shirt, singlet, trousers, belt, socks, shoes, backpack, stationery set, pencils and colouring pencils, with some change to spare.

The outlet’s assistant branch manager Ruzaidi Zainon said Mydin always strives to keep costs low by minimising profit and producing some items in bulk.

“We are selling them between 10% and 15% cheaper than market prices, and collaborating with Zakat Pulau Pinang to assist the poor through shopping vouchers.

“The availability of various financial assistance schemes has further allowed families to provide well for their children,” he said, adding that parents started shopping for school supplies from February.

Mydin Malaysia executive director (northern) Azmin Saduruddin said under the Rahmah packages, other promotions being offered are uniform sets starting at RM50 and stationery sets from RM5.