Parents are currently fine-tuning preparations particularly for children staying in schools.

“Vane, have you opened your school box since you came back from school? Please do so immediately and bring out all your school uniforms so that I verify and adjust them if need arises.” This conversation is between a mother and her daughter three days to the official reopening of the second-term. After two weeks of end-of-year festivities, parents are fully engaged in getting their children ready for the school term. Thus, a list of school needs is the talk of the day in most homes now.

As the countdown to the second term draws near, parents are concerned with the school needs of their children, most especially those attending boarding schools. Vanessa Ekanje is a Form One student at a Baptist Secondary school some few kilometres from Yaounde. Five days to school reopening, she is already re-arranging her school items. Specific attention is given to Vanessa who is going to school days ahead of her other siblings. Besides adjusting Vanessa’s oversized school uniform, her other school needs such as toiletries, breakfast items are also being bought.   

On the other hand, David Harold Biyeck is a Lower Sixth Student at a Catholic Seminary at the Mvolyé neighbourhood in Yaounde. His parents have already completed the last quarter of his school fees. Although David’s school box needs to be adjusted, his mother says all his school uniforms and books are in good state. Before David returns to school tomorrow, his mum is sure to have bought his other school needs amongst this will be biscuits, body sprays and other food stuffs.

School preparations seem to be more intense in homes that have more than three children of school going ages. A parent, who opts for anonymity, explains how demanding the situation seems to be especially as she has more than two school lists to handle. Worse is the fact that as days goes by, some of the items on the school lists keep increasing.

A parent in Yaounde, Solange M. says the earlier she concludes the buying of school needs, the better for her, if not the school needs of her children will never end as their lists keep increasing each day. Money or no money, parents are set to take the necessary measures to ensure that their children go back to school with all their provisions.