I'm going to ban schools uniforms in Kenya

Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris now wants Kenya to ban school uniforms in its institutions.

The lawmaker notes that buying school uniforms had become an expensive affair for parents, especially during these times of harsh economic conditions.

This comes after Passaris decided to help stranded Form One students who had not reported to there respective schools on account of not having uniforms.

Nairobi Woman Rep. Esther Passaris at a school uniform shop with a stranded student. She was shocked when she was told to part with KSh30,000 for the girl’s school uniform. “How does any child in the slums afford KSh30,000 for uniform! It’s impossible!” She remarked.

KSh30,000 uniform

In one case, the lawmaker visited a school uniforms shop with the needy student, and she could not fathom why they were so expensive.

“How does any child in the slums afford KSh30,000 for uniform! It’s impossible! Greece banned uniforms, American schools don’t wear uniforms, some schools in London don’t wear uniforms, France don’t wear uniforms and students study… KSh30,000 is just ridiculous, I don’t know if its the cost of the fabric…We don’t want school uniforms, it’s a British mentality,” Passaris remarked. “Military can wear uniforms, army can wear uniforms, school children can wear their home clothes and go to school.”

Passaris later took one of the girls to a salon to do her hair, ready to join Form One.

Table a bill

To move the debate forward, Passaris vowed to come up with a bill that will see uniforms banned in Kenyan secondary schools and table it before Parliament for enactment.

“I’m going to ban school uniforms in Kenya. I’m gonna stop school uniforms in Kenya. These children cannot afford school uniforms, this is a colonial mentality for us to wear uniforms,” she added.

Passaris insists that children should go to school with their home clothes, and parents be left with the expense of buying only the necessary sporting gears.

Alternatively, she proposes that the Ministry of Education engages the National Youth Service (NYS) to make the school uniforms and make them affordable children from different backgrounds.

“How can a child from a poor family afford KSh30,000 for school uniform? It’s crazy, unless we get NYS to make these uniforms and give them to the schools and we get it to a low price of KSh2,000 or KSh3,000.”