School Supply Drive Underway
Staples in Prince George has partnered with the Salvation Army for the annual Backpack and School Supply Drive. The drive is meant to ensure that all children in Prince George have what they need to start their school year off on the right foot.
General Manager, Neil Hodgson said, adding, “Not having the proper supplies to start the year can be a tremendous burden on a child” says Staples General Manager Neil Hodgson.
So Staples is doing two things to help fill those backpacks.
First, Staples will be selling raffle ticket for a chance to win a 64GB IPad Air 2 including professional set up, AppleCare and screen protection, value of this prize is $845 after taxes. Ticket prices are $5 or 3 for $10 and all proceeds will be donated to The Salvation Army Back to School program
Secondly, the familiar Yellow School Bus that will be parked behind the check out for donations of school supplies to be dropped.
Supplies Needed;
Pens (assorted colors) Duo-tangs Pencils Eraser
Lined paper Rulers Binders Highlighters
White-Out Glue Sticks Geometry Sets Calculators
Child Safety Scissors Crayons Markers
Comments
Oh please, school supplies? Every year I buy school supplies off of the list,and the kids bring it to school and they have to put it in the middle of the room, and the divide it up to every kid. Kids show up without school supplies, because they know they get it for free.
Why don’t the go back to the old method and sell it at the schools? That way they know who never showed up with any, and they can help the kids out at the root level?
School supplies is not a problem for kids, not even close.
Healthy food yes.. that is a problem, which the Salvation Army is wonderful at distributing.
Yeah right, school supplies is not a problem, ignore the fact that child poverty in BC has been the highest in Canada for many of the past years. Ignore the fact this School District has been calling for the Provincial Government to develop and implement a poverty reduction plan, because BC is the only province in Canada that does not have one!
How is it not a problem if not everybody can afford them? You speak like the kids that show up without are plotting to get free supplies from others. Sounds like it’s not a problem for your children, but I can’t imagine it’s all that fun to be the kid who shows up without.
There is not kid ‘without’, that’s my point. All supplies is handed out already from the people that bring it, to the kids that do not have it.
This extra tax levied against families is an afront to our UN declaration of universal human rights . Shame on the education industrial complex . Canada was a signatory to this declaration . We should all be ashamed of ourselves putting families and children in this position .
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Elementary education is both mandatory and free in BC. A school supply drive is not an extra tax. They do not provide binders, duotangs, rainbow rulers, backpacks, laptops, calculators, etc except what is in the classroom for teaching materials – but your education is free. You have the right to choose Montesori, French Immersion, Traditional, etc education for your child.
You are correct that education is not “free” for those in public schools as only half the funding is provided – but you do have the right to make that choice as well.
Fee , dues , levy , fare , pass , etc are all taxes by another name pure and simple . Pure semantics. They are even more insidious than taxes are as they are not shared by society as a whole . That’s the whole point of the declaration .
Everyone is entitled to an education and that is funded by the taxpayers as a whole – both through income tax and property tax. That is already supplied as per the declaration.
The 4 A’s which you are referring to is not part of the UN Declaration of Human Rights
The term “education” refers to formal institutional instruction. Even the European Court of Human Rights defines education as “teaching or instruction” or “the transfer of knowledge and intellectual development”.
The 4 As are not part of the UN Declaration. However, they are used by NGOs to determine whether the standard is being applied or not.
It is useless to set a standard which is not detailed s to interpretation. That is where the NGOs come in and the auditing standards as to whether the standard is being followed.
With respect to Accessibility the following words are included:
“……. Schools must be within a reasonable distance for children within the community, otherwise transportation should be provided to students, particularly those that might live in rural areas, to ensure ways to school are safe and convenient. Education should be affordable to all, with textbooks, supplies and uniforms provided to students at no additional costs”
“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.”
It is not exactly FREE. The money to pay for the cost of the education system comes from a general tax, most from a tax directed at property owners in each School District.
So, it is essentially FREE to those who do not own property. Even that is not quite true since those who rent a dwelling unit have part of the rent go to the landlord who then pays the school tax.
It is FREE in the sense that no matter how much money a family has, the children get equal access to public schools. So those families with an annual income of $30,000 pay virtually nothing as does a family that has an income of $300,000, although the latter pay a much higher portion based on the likelihood that they own property and pay a significant tax to the SD as a result.
The UN declaration sounds good, but really does not capture the complete fact of the situation.
Comments for this article are closed.