School uniforms and supplies: The race begins in Maputo

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School uniforms and supplies: The race begins in Maputo

3:34 CAT | 08 Mar 2021

Photo: O País

Parents and guardians in the city of Maputo have started buying uniforms and school supplies for the school year scheduled to start on March 19th. Some traders are sighing with relief, while others do not see such great prospects ahead.

A year ago, thousands of primary school students stopped going to school due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In secondary education, classes were marked by interruptions mandated in the hope of mitigating the spread of the virus.

Last Thursday however saw a relaxation of restrictions in the education sector – and with it, the resumption of the hunt for school uniforms and supplies in the Mozambican capital.

‘O País’ visited Xipamanine market, where Esmeralda Machel, mother of two primary school children, said she could not wait for them to go back.

“Going to school is complicated by the disease, but it is better. I will continue to instruct them at no time to remove their masks or hug their classmates,” she explained.

In one of the stationery stores in downtown Maputo we found Henrique Xirindza, father to four primary and secondary school students, buying notebooks and school books. The government’s new guidelines seem to him an opportunity to resume the march to “a bright future” for his children.

“Back to school is better” because “the kids are lagging behind. I really have hopes for their growth, and the hope is that doctors and teachers will emerge,” he says.

Francisco Mateus, a tailor of 20 years’ experience, does not expect major changes in the income of his business. “I don’t expect great success with the return (of the students),” he says, “because will reuse last year’s uniforms, which were practically never used.”

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, a school uniform cost between 200 and 300 meticais. Now, prices sit at up to 450 meticais.

By Yumaina Mussane

Source: O País