The Competition Commission’s 2021 ruling barring schools from forcing parents to buy school uniforms at preferred shops seems to be paying off as most schools have complied.
Matakanye Matakanye, general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) said since the ruling in 2021, they had received only three complaints, from Limpopo, Gauteng and North West.
Matakanye said in Limpopo and North West, the schools were compelling parents to buy uniforms from a specific supplier.
“In both these cases I was able to intervene and speak to the principals and the school governing body and that was stopped,” he said.
In the other case, in Gauteng, it was an official in the department who referred parents to a particular shop and that matter was handed over to the province.
“We feel that people are under-reporting. There is a culture in schools that when the principal has spoken then the matter is final. Parents have a culture of not wanting to question the decisions just because the official of the school has spoken.
“Parents simply comply based on what they are told at the schools,” Matakanye said.
In 2021, the Competition Tribunal ruled that schools can no longer compel parents to buy uniforms from a specific supplier.
The tribunal found that exclusive agreements between schools and suppliers allowed businesses to charge customers higher prices and prevented other suppliers from entering the market.
Commission’s spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga said no complaints had been received from the public in the new year.
However, since embarking on a campaign alerting the public about the ruling and guidelines for the schools, 200 complaints were received.
Half of them could not be taken far as there was lack of sufficient evidence or the complainants were unavailable to provide information.
Makunga said there was progress in ensuring that schools complied.
He added that school uniform guidelines had since been introduced together with the department of education. These encourage schools to be as generic as possible and only limit unique school uniform to a few uniform items that the schools regard as necessary to obtain from pre-selected suppliers.
“There is a notable general compliance across the country with very few individual complaints of non-compliance that we received in 2022. We, however, continue to monitor compliance, including conducting random surveys in which parents, guardians, learners, school governing bodies and principals participated.
“Survey results reveal high levels of awareness of guidelines and circular by respondents. High compliance levels on unique vs generic mix as well as exclusivity and long term contracts with suppliers. Where compliance was partial, it was evident that its work in progress,” he said.
Makunga added that the commission had undertaken site visits to schools twice last year meeting principals and SGB educating them about the guidelines.
“Most public and private schools have signed a pledge of undertaking to comply and this document can also be found on our website,” Makunga said.
Matakanye said they had also started a programme called the Power of Parents where they conducted workshops in schools educating parents about the governance of the school. The issue of school uniforms was covered during these workshops.
He said the programme was started in North West last year and would be rolled out to other provinces in 2023.
dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
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