The lack of means and unavailability of some textbooks has pushed some parents to make last-minute purchases.

It has not been easy for some parents and guardians to buy stationery, school bags and uniforms for their children and wards in time for this year’s school reopening. Though the recent three-month vacation was enough time for parents to gather resources to purchase stationery for the 2015/2016 school year without pressure, most parents with more than one child preferred to wait until after schools resumed.

As a result, most bookshops in Douala are now filled with parents trying to pick up books for their kids. While some purchase new books, others go for second-hand ones not just because they are cheap, but due to the fact that new ones are scarce and expensive. In a second-hand bookshop ain Akwa, a parent revealed that he searched for a novel from the series, “Fables des Montagnes” for Form Two in the Francophone sub-system of education for long.

He finally found it in a shop selling second-hand books. Other books like “Strange Tales From Arabian Nights,” “The Secret Of Success” and “Mathematics Made Easy” for primary schools used in the Anglophone sub-system of education, are available only in bookshops with second-hand books.

Other parents with little means prefer to first buy the most essential textbooks; including French and English languages, as well as Literature and Mathematics; then to buy others as time goes on in order of preference. Some parents exchange old textbooks for new ones while some sell the old textbooks and add money to buy new ones.

Every evening, bookshops are filled with parents trying to buy or sell textbooks, while other stationery items like mathematics sets, colour pencils, rulers, pens and water bottles are easily bought because they are not only available, but also affordable. According to a second-hand book seller, Raymond M, the peak purchase period will end around mid September.