Paying the price for going back to school

Schools and uniform suppliers have defended the prices of their school uniforms, following complaints from parents that garments are unnecessarily expensive.

A parent with two children attending an independent school calculated she had spent a total of €1,062 on the required uniforms and €346 on textbooks for her children ahead of the new scholastic year. Most local schools welcome children back tomorrow.

“Children grow so quickly, but when they need new uniforms we can’t just buy items like trousers from high street stores – which can be cheaper and of better quality – because they have to be the exact items specified on a list and bought from the school’s supplier,” she explained, asking to remain anonymous as her children’s school is not unique in this regard.

The Sunday Times was shown her son’s school trousers, which cost €28.95, and feature a small logo of the school close to one of the front pockets.

The newspaper was then showed a pair of similar trousers without the logo, which were made from exactly the same materials, and in addition coated with durable Teflon, which was bought from British depart­ment store John Lewis for £15.50 (€18.20).

In the UK it is currently possible to buy generic boy’s school trousers (65 per cent polyester, 35 per cent viscose) from as little as £2.50 (€2.90) from Asda.

“It is just ridiculous that we have to pay the extra cost for a tiny logo; I don’t think the school considers the extra costs for parents when it finalises its designs,” the parent said. When asked why parents cannot purchase some generic items from high street stores, the school administrator said: “Our school uniform – apart from shirts – is manufactured to the school’s specifications in keeping with our school colours and image. No high street store would be able to guarantee stocks for all our students and consistency in colour, style and quality.”

School uniform suppliers were quick to defend the prices of their products.

A spokesman for uniform supplier ID Malta pointed out that the majority of school uniforms are manufactured specifically for individual schools, which opt for very precise colours and designs that must be manufactured from scratch and thoroughly tested.

Furthermore, he said the costs of manufacturing and decorating garments were disproportionately high when volumes were small.

“Economies of scale play a very important role in manufacturing, so we would never be able to compete with high street prices given the small volumes,” he said, explaining that major high street stores’ orders would start at 100,000 units per item, while ID’s orders are typically 250 to 1,000 units.

A spokesman for uniform suppliers Yorkie Clothing said local suppliers were often reluctant to order in bulk because when a design is changed or a school changes supplier they are left with “thousands of items” of residual stock.

In 2008, the Office of Fair Competition conducted an investigation into the costs of school uniforms after complaints from parents. It recommended that, among other things, schools should be advised to avoid complex uniform designs to cut expenses and, ultimately, prices.

The recommendations were passed to the Education Ministry and a committee made up of representatives of state, Church and independent schools came up with a set of guidelines based on the recommendations, which were eventually circulated among all schools.

In the case of state schools, the Directorate for Educational Services (DES) has initiated a new process whereby any new uniform that is introduced has to go through a tendering process.

Prior to the issue of any tender, the college principals and the DES meet to establish the items to be included in the uniform list.

“Great care is taken to ensure that only the basic items are included. Each college then sets up a working group composed of stakeholders to discuss simple yet comfortable and modern-looking designs. Complex designs are avoided to ensure that uniforms are not too expensive,” said an Education Ministry spokesman.

Nevertheless, the cost of uniforms has left some parents questioning whether they are needed at all.

The Sunday Times columnist Kristina Chetcuti recently spent around €200 on uniform items for her daughter, who is about to start primary school.

“I hate uniforms with a passion. I think they cramp a child’s individuality at an age when it’s so important for them to develop it,” she said.

In response, the Education Ministry said: “Not having a school uniform can at times cause more financial burden to parents who need to think of what their child needs to wear each day, not to mention the competition that may arise between children about what they wear.”

Another common complaint from parents is the cost of textbooks and stationery required by schools, with some books costing in excess of €30 each.

One parent complained to The Sunday Times that although she has three children, her younger ones are unable to reuse textbooks she bought for her eldest child as the independent school they attend constantly asks for the latest editions, even though there are sometimes minimal changes from the old editions.

She also claimed the school sometimes asks for textbooks and copybooks and then hardly use them.

“This is sending children mixed messages; on one hand we tell them to recycle and minimise waste, then we send them to school with textbooks they hardly look at and copybooks they hardly write in,” she said.