Uniforms: know your rights

EXPENSIVE: PARENTS MUST ASK SCHOOLS ABOUT TENDER PROCESS Make governing bodies aware of anticompetitive behaviour ruling.

Financially stressed parents often complain about expensive uniforms, without knowing they do have the power to change the uniforms at the school their children attend. All they have to do is ask the right questions.

National guideline on uniforms

The department of education issued the National Guideline on School Uniforms in 2015, to discourage the use of a single supplier approach, because it adds to parents’ financial burden. But many schools still have exclusive contracts with one or two suppliers.

According to the guidelines, the availability of the uniforms may not restrict access to schools or interfere with anybody’s constitutional rights.

These guidelines emphasised stakeholders regard uniforms as a positive way to enhance discipline and safety at schools. It stated uniforms curb peer pressure for expensive clothes, theft of expensive clothes and gang violence, as well as helping children to concentrate better.

But the Human Rights Commission pointed out that without research, it was not a given that children who do not wear school uniforms are ill-mannered, violent or members of gangs.

Commission investigation

The Competition Commission in 2017 found a third of private schools (32% or 183 out of 573) and former Model C schools (33% or 567 out of 1 723) still had exclusive agreements with uniform suppliers.

Most of these were not concluded after open tenders and a competitive process.

More than half of the private and former Model C schools (52%) said then they intended to open the bidding space.

The commission then embarked on an extensive awareness drive against anticompetitive behaviour in the procurement of school uniforms and to ensure that all schools comply with the guidelines.

Anticompetitive behaviour

Parents cannot choose where to buy uniforms and have to pay top dollar for simple items such as a school dress, which can cost about R280. In addition, these exclusive contracts also bars new school uniform suppliers from entering the market.

What can parents do?

Various surveys have indicated

that it can cost up to R1 800 to buy a uniform for a grade 1 child, while buying generic school uniforms are much cheaper.

The good news is that parents can make their voices heard at the schools’ governing bodies that decide on uniforms. But these bodies only meet later in the year, when parents have already paid up.

Parents should first ask whether the school has an agreement with a specific supplier and how many suppliers are used. They should also ask if the agreement was completed after an open tender process, as well as how long the agreement is for.

According to a spokesperson for the Competition Commission, the body has received complaints about the procurement of other learning-related goods and services.

“In the era of Covid-19, the commission received complaints about requirements for pupils to wear branded Covid-19-related items, such as face masks, hand sanitisers and technological gadgets for e-learning purposes.”

The spokesman said the expectation for parents to buy school-branded masks, for instance, deprived consumers of the choice to buy a nonbranded mask in the school’s colours from an alternative supplier at a better price.

The commission and the department of basic education have therefore jointly published an updated circular on the “procurement of school uniforms and other learning-related goods and services” to provide guidance on best practices relating to all procurement undertaken by schools.