As the 2026-2027 school year approaches, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) note on the consumer price index for August provides an initial numerical reference on several expenses that traditionally accompany families’ preparations. It measures price changes, not the amount actually spent by a household.
The Essentials
School supplies: +1.4 % in August. This is the monthly rise most directly linked to back-to-school preparations in the INS note.
Education: +5.4 % over one year. The group reflects the same pace as overall inflation in August.
Clothing: -4.7 % in one month, but +9 % over one year. The sales reduced prices in August without erasing the annual rise.
The INS does not calculate the back-to-school bill. The index measures price changes, not the amount actually spent by a family.
School transport, canteen, registration fees or subsidized items: these expenses cannot be precisely isolated from this single note.
School supplies increased by 1.4 % in August
This is the data most directly related to back-to-school in the INS note. For August alone, the prices of school supplies rise by 1.4 %. At the same time, prices for services of pre-elementary and primary education rise by 0.9 %.
These evolutions accompany a monthly increase of 0.9 % in one month for the entire “Education” group, which represents 3.2 % of the INS consumption basket set by INS.
Year over year, prices in the “Education” group rise by 5.4 %, i.e., exactly the same pace as overall inflation in August. In the first eight months of 2026, compared with the same period in 2025, the average increase reaches 5.5 % for education, versus 5.2 % for all prices.
Clothing: -4.7 % in August, but +9 % over a year
Clothing constitutes another major expense as the new school year approaches. Yet the group “Clothing and footwear” records the largest annual rise among the twelve major IPC groups: +9 %. The average rise over the first eight months of 2026 also reaches 9 %.
In the short term, however, the movement is the opposite. In August, prices for clothing and shoes fall by 4.7 %, due to the start of the summer sale season. In detail, clothing declines by 4.7 % for the month and shoes by 5.4 %.
On average, prices in this group therefore decreased in August under the influence of the sales, without erasing the year-long increase.
The INS, however, does not measure separately items specifically intended for school use, such as aprons, school shoes or certain back-to-school outfits.
What the index does not measure
The consumer price index measures the evolution of the price of a reference basket. It does not tell how much a family actually spends to prepare for the back-to-school period, nor how this expenditure is distributed among the different items.
It does not provide the price in dinars of a backpack, a notebook, or a school outfit.
Several important back-to-school expenses cannot be isolated from the note: registration fees, canteen, dormitory or school transport. The major statistical groups likely to contain some of these expenses cover much broader perimeters. Their variations cannot therefore be applied directly to these specific services.
The note also does not distinguish, in detail of school expenditures, subsidized items from freely sold products. Their actual price and availability must be assessed separately on the ground.
An initial indicator before the actual back-to-school expenditures
The August data thus show two different movements: a monthly rise in school supplies of 1.4 %, while clothing temporarily benefits from the sales, with a decline of 4.7 % on a month, despite a progression of 9 % on a year.
These figures allow monitoring the general evolution of prices, but they do not constitute an estimate of the bill borne by a Tunisian family.
The next INS note on the consumer price index is announced for October 5, 2026. It will allow observing the evolution of the “Education” group during September.
