Put our children’s interests first

IN FAR too many instances, school uniforms are being used to block poor children from attending schools of their choice. Of close to 30 million people living in poverty in South Africa, more than 13 million are children.

To break this cycle, millions of parents have put education for their children on top of their list of priorities.

A school uniform should be at the bottom of this list. And yet, at many schools, it is not.

It is being used to maintain exclusivity. This must stop – immediately.

It may seem trite to say this – but children are the future of South Africa. Every year, we come across heart-warming stories of achievements against all odds by matric pupils in their end-ofyear exams.

This year, for instance, Takalani Bambela, from Tshivhase Secondary School in the rural Vhembe district of Limpopo, is the number one national achiever, followed by another Limpopo pupil, Khodani Wonderful Nemalamamgwa, from Thengwe High School in Mutale.

We believe there is sufficient talent among our pupils to set this country on the road to prosperity.

We’re flabbergasted therefore that there are schools – supposedly top schools at that – who are so short-sighted as to worry about uniforms.

Not only that – but to insist that their uniforms should be bought at a particular supplier. This is absolute rubbish. This is why we are glad a Competition Commission investigation into possible contraventions of the Competitions Act is at an advanced stage.

One of its findings – which many people and organisations have long suspected – is that many schools have exclusive “arrangements” with suppliers, and that these “arrangements” have not been concluded via open tenders across all provinces.

Our children’s interests should always be put first.

Schools who use uniforms (and ridiculously high fees) to kill the ambition of poor children and their parents should be named and shamed.

It is time that the Basic Education Department draws a line in the sand and instructs provincial education departments throughout the country to follow its lead.

We believe rules that are decaying leftovers of colonialism should be thrown onto the scrapheap.

In a democratic South Africa, the best way to fight poverty is through education – and not through being able to afford a school uniform.