School Children Affected By Rising Costs

Star Q

i.  Mesyuarat Agung Kokurikulum 2014

ii.  Flashcards for Speaking

iii.  Aubergine-Layered Lasagna

Image sourced from google

The government has been rather lackadaisical about it's moves regarding the increase of almost every major necessity you can think of; starting from petrol (I heard it went up again last night, albeit five cents!), to sugar and to electricity.  The domino effect of all this spree is the increase of every other thing related to the ones mentioned above.  And school children are caught in between!

The domino effect of the increase of price of sugar (or the withdrawal of sugar subsidies according to the government's contention!) resulted in the hike of prices of food that even has a teaspoon of sugar in it.  I was shocked to learn that in a particular primary school, the price of a glass of cold drink (insipid looking orange juice or syrup!) rose from twenty cents last year to fifty cents this year!  The canteen operator told me that she had to increase the prices of almost all the food sold there.

And in a school where there was no evidence of price increase on the food sold, the portion of the food served seem relatively smaller.  A plate of nasi lemak which used to cost RM1.00 last year, still costs the same this year.  However, if a child could manage ten mouthfuls of the rice last year at the same price, this year he only manages six!

Whatever these canteen operators do (or other people involved in selling cooked food are concerned) whether they increase the price of items and maintain the quantity, or retain the same price but reduce the size of portions, is all related to the price increase of all the things mentioned earlier.  Just imagine, all these things are inter-related; sugar used as an ingredient in food; petrol for vehicles to transport food and electricity for appliances used to prepare food!  So, if a pupil buys a glass of insipid looking orange juice today, he is not only paying for the drink, in fact he is also paying for the sugar, petrol and electricity!

Of course the government will argue that parents are responsible for increasing their children's pocket money in order to accommodate the increase in prices of food sold at the canteens.  Please don't argue about other people's responsibilities!  Think about what you can do when there are children whose parents cannot afford to increase their allowances; think about those children who, after going to school in the morning, have to attend religious classes in the afternoon until evening; think also about these young kids who have to stay back to go through many hours of co-curricular activities.

This is merely a small section of the spectrum of people involved directly with the increase of prices of necessities.  Sadly, it does not only involve adults, it also involves innocent young children!