JOHOR BARU: After 11 years, all schools in Johor will be joining most of the other states in the country to start the new academic year on a Monday.
This came about as Johor reverted to a Saturday-Sunday weekend, ending a practice since 2014 of keeping Friday and Saturday as the official days off.
And with classes starting today, many parents are guiding their children on creative ways to stretch their ringgit to cope with rising costs.
Human resources executive Tan Chia Min, 42, said her family practises a “50-50 formula” to educate her two daughters on spending money wisely.
“My daughters had asked for new school bags and pencil cases, so they used their own pocket money to pay half the price of the items.
“My husband and I topped up the remainder of the cost,” she said when interviewed.
Tan said they started doing this last year to teach the girls about the value of money.
“I want to help them understand financial management from a young age,” she said.
Tan also encouraged her daughters, who are starting Year Four and Form One today, to save at least half of their ang pow money from Chinese New Year.
“I told them that they can spend the other half of their ang pow money but only on important things.
“My husband and I always try to educate them about the rising cost of living to avoid being wasteful,” she added.
As for father-of-three Khairul Mohd Ali, he said he has switched to online shopping for back-to-school essentials such as socks.
“After comparing prices, we noticed that online platforms offer better deals on certain products.
“We also switched to more budget-friendly options for things like school bags. My children are fine with this as the items serve the same purpose,” said the 40-year-old freelancer.
He said he set aside money for an education fund that he and his wife started several years ago.
“This helps with our expenses such as back-to-school preparations. It means that we do not have to fork out a large sum of money at one go,” he said.
He added that his two daughters are starting Year Two and Form Three while his son is starting Year Six today.
Germaine Yong, 52, who runs a shop specialising in school uniforms and supplies here, said many parents have been doing last-minute back-to-school shopping over the weekend.
“Many schools are flexible about students alternating between their school uniform and physical education attire, so parents are able to save a lot on school preparations.
“They mostly purchase one or two pairs of school uniforms, tracksuit pants, shoes and socks,” she said, adding that there are many options available for various budgets.
“Depending on the quality, a school uniform set can be bought for RM50,” said Yong.
