As the back-to-school rush and preparations get underway, the inclusion of cleaning products has raised some concerns on students’ stationary list. Apart from the traditional school supplies consisting of books, pens and colouring pencils amongst others, items such as Pine Gel, Domestos, Jik, toilet paper and other cleaning products have also been included. Some parents took to X to compare the stationery items requested by different schools and raised eyebrows at some necessities included.
Ayanda whose handle is @sweerie_ sparked a debate in her comment section, when she shared the list of stationery for Grade 8.
“Aren’t red pens for teachers? Why should students have 24 red pens? I won’t talk about 65 Pritts. This is just too much.Asking a Grade 8 to bring crayons is mad business. Those people are basically in High School, they shouldn’t be colouring at that grade unless your child is doing art as a subject.”
Why are schools doing stationery for teachers through students?” read some of the reactions. @TsholoNovember wrote “these stationary lists, by the time I have a child, they’ll be asking for tables and chairs.”
While the validity of the shared lists hasn’t been ascertained, there are growing calls for the Department of Basic Education to intervene and investigate why learners are requested to bring a lot of items and cleaning material like air freshener or sunlight dishwashing liquid.
Another question that was raised on the matter was how the parents from non-fee-paying schools will afford these expenses when they already can’t pay school fees. Meanwhile, the 2025 academic year is scheduled to resume from Wednesday 15 January.
