Keeping an eye on school uniform prices

THE Competition Commission has called on parents to alert them if schools do not comply with uniform guidelines issued by the Department of Basic Education.

The body said it was intensifying its efforts to ensure that school uniform prices were reasonable and affordable for parents.

In 2018, it probed the supply of school uniforms, where it established that various schools had made exclusive supply deals with stockists, which they found to be anticompetitive.

The guidelines include that school uniforms should be as generic as possible so that they are obtainable from as many suppliers possible.

Exclusivity should also be limited to items that the schools regard as necessary to obtain from pre-selected suppliers, for example, badges, the commission said. Schools should work to follow a competitive bidding process when appointing suppliers, and appoint more than one supplier to give parents more options.

“Parents are also urged to continue to monitor anti-competitive conduct in schools and must insist that the governing bodies implement the uniform guidelines. The success of the initiative to bring reasonable and affordable uniforms depends largely on involved and active parents.

If governing bodies manage schools on behalf of the parents, it cannot be that parents must bear the brunt of expensive prices,” commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said.

In February last year, the commission signed agreements with several private schools following constructive engagements and co-operation by the schools, which included Curro, Advtech and Reddam House.

School governing bodies led by the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA, an association of largely public schools, as well as the Independent Schools of Southern Africa made a public pledge to adhere to the school uniform guidelines aimed at curbing anti-competitive behaviour at schools.

Governing Body Foundation Western Cape’s Malcolm Venter said they had issued a communication to member schools.

“We warned our schools to take into account not only what the Competition Commission says but also parents’ financial situations. We have not heard any issues or complaints at this stage.

“The issue arises for the very reason that you should review your stockists every year and avoid having sole stockists as this leads to monopoly and manipulation of prices. But it’s difficult because there are not that many school uniform stockists around and this is the only time of year they make a profit.”

To contact the commission, visit www.compcom.co.za/lodge-acomplaint/