Africa-Press – Kenya. A lawmaker now wants the government to standardize uniform costs in primary and secondary schools.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba on Wednesday fronted a motion that sought to make uniforms affordable to all students.
“This House, therefore, resolves that the Ministry of Education develops a policy on standardization and production of school uniforms in the country,” Wamuchomba said.
The lawmaker said the uniforms should be accessible to students in both public and private schools.
She added that the cost of uniforms has continued to escalate becoming expensive to the common mwananchi.
“Some schools demand that parents pay uniform money to specific school accounts, a move that locks out many children whose parents cannot afford,” she added.
In January, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu warned school heads who direct parents to specific stores to purchase uniforms that are costly than they should be.
This was among the government’s plans to make the Grade 7 transition affordable.
“Uniforms shall be the responsibility of parents and no school shall direct parents where to purchase the uniform,” the ministry’s guidelines read.
Machogu also directed that no student should be locked out of school for not having a uniform.
The directive did not sit well with some teachers who oppose having many shades of uniform.
“It’s not a bad idea but how many purple colours do we have? If we say come with a purple shirt then we will see very many colours,” a teacher said.
The teacher urged the government to regulate prices and not where parents should buy uniforms.
“What they need to look at is ensuring all shirts are sold at a standard price; if it’s Sh500 then it should be the same everywhere,” she said.
The government directed schools to pick a suitable uniform design for the learners to differentiate between Grade 7 and primary school learners.
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