I fully concur with your editorial Back to school, back to problems (TMI, 6 October).

It is a real pity that schools and teachers do not understand that today, in families where both the mother and the father have a job, it is hard for them to run to the nearest stationery every day just because teachers fail to coordinate.

In the first two weeks of school, I have had to go to buy something for my children to use at school almost every day. Sometimes it is a file, at other times it is coloured paper. Cannot the schools come up with a comprehensive list of items that are needed by the different teachers so that parents go to the stationer’s only once? Is it so hard to do this and give the list to the students on the first day of school?

All other workers, except for teachers, finish work at 5pm or later, and do not have time to waste. After work, they have to help their children with their homework, prepare their dinner and do a 101 other things – but it seems that schools think that parents have nothing else to do.

Maria Caruana

Mosta