Pencils and books for schooling

To help families struggling with household expenses and can’t afford buying school equipment for their children. It is the objective of the second campaign launched by the diocesan Caritas in Granada, Spain, in this month of September. The initiative lies within the framework of similar initiatives promoted by local Caritas and Spanish dioceses in support of all those in need, victims of economic recession and surging unemployment rates. The burden of the crisis. “We decided to promote a school equipment campaign for the second year running, owing to difficulties experienced by families caused by the ongoing economic downturn linked to the crisis”, Luis Antonio Rodríguez Huertas, Caritas Granada technical coordinator for communication, told SIR Europe. “Spain is among the countries with the highest unemployment rates in euro zone countries”, he pointed out. The ongoing job crisis coupled by low incomes “has impacted families’ spending capacity”. Surging VAT rate. Moreover, continued Rodríguez Huertas, “among the measures adopted by the government figures increased VAT rates for various products. Many of these products are part of school equipment, that surged from 4 to 21%, weighing heavily on family budgets”. Increased VAT rate has been applied also to jigsaw puzzles and other didactic toys such as construction blocks, as well as pen-holders, school diaries, notebooks, compasses, coloured paper and cards, modelling clay, crayons, tempera and water-colours, spiral exercise books, plastic covers for books, schoolbags. “Only text-books, maps, music scores and drawing books are not subjected to the 21% VAT increase”. But “the right to education is universal and it extends far beyond schooling. The fact that families strive to cover the costs of school material, which is happening ever more frequently, seriously breaches this right”. Given the ongoing economic situation, “marked by a longstanding structural economic crisis, many people in Granada have been experiencing major difficulties for the beginning of the school year linked to the costs of the school material needed by their children”, underlined Rodríguez Huertas.A helping hand from those who can afford it. Thus for the second year Caritas, in line with its vocation of support and service to the disadvantaged, calls upon society as a whole to give a helping hand to those in dire straits. “Last year’s campaign was planned in a hurry”, explained Rodríguez Huertas. “That’s why we don’t’ know the exact number of families that benefitted from the initiative, but we know that the numbers are high”. This year we started organizing the event ahead of time. In fact, the media campaign began the beginning of September and the major Caritas centre in Granada has already started receiving school equipment”. Money offerings for the campaign are also welcome, indicating the reason for the bank payment or money transfer. “The material will be distributed – via parish Caritas, according to the traditional procedures for help to the poor – as of September 25, when parents will know the list of school items needed by their children. The diocesan Caritas in Granada carries out organized charity services, ensuring that support is given to those in dire situations. The parishes play an indispensable role”, concluded Rodríguez Huertas.