Education ministry fails to implement proposal on standardised school uniforms

A proposal by National Assembly members to have a standardised uniform policy across the country has hit a snag with the Ministry of Education failing to implement a policy on the same despite a motion passing in Parliament.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu instead told the National Assembly that the ministry had issued a circular to schools directing that they allow parents to purchase uniforms where they could afford.

The cost of acquiring school uniforms for pupils and students has been listed as one of the school requirements that drive the cost of education up.

Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba said: “You must, as government, provide a legal framework that will allow those tailors we are training to make uniforms for our children affordably.”

A motion brought to the floor of the House early in the year got the National Assembly’s nod and was placed on the CS Machogu’s desk for implementation.

With just weeks to the end of the academic year and a new one beckoning, little has been done to shield parents and guardians from exorbitant uniform costs.

CS Machogu stated: “The circular we have issued you see next year in the admission letter, an item that says the school requires this kind of uniform, be it secondary or primary or any kind of school, and it is the prerogative of the parent to procure.”

The ministry’s response however has not been well received by Parliament.

The motion sought to have all schools across the country adopt a standard uniform that would be applied either at sub county, county or country level, or at different levels of education.

The price of the uniform was also expected to have been set at the same level to stamp out what the legislators term as unfair disadvantage accorded to uniform distributors who are alleged to collude with school heads to fleece parents.

The ministry however says it is near impossible to change the school uniform styles, with the Education CS adding; “There’s a kind of belonging as it will cause many challenges in schools.”

MP Wamuchomba stated: “We must standardize...we must have a policy so that we can stop the demand of uniforms being dictated by school heads.”

The formulation of a policy on uniforms for all levels of education was also one of the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on education reforms, and the lawmakers now say they will not rest until the ministry moves to address the cost of school uniforms.