The Government says it is illegal for schools to force parents to buy uniforms from them.
This comes after parents across the country have complained that schools are forcing them to purchase expensive uniforms.
In some cases, learners whose parents buy uniforms from shops are denied admission by schools.
Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister, Edgar Moyo, said parents are free to buy school uniforms wherever they find them affordable. He was quoted by CITE as saying:
Children being forced to buy uniforms by schools is illegal. We have a free market economy and parents are supposed to buy wherever they have a cost advantage.
Moyo acknowledged that the Ministry was aware that certain schools and school heads were forcing parents to buy uniforms from the schools. He said:
Yes indeed, it has happened and some of it has been brought to our attention and we have taken action against such schools and headmasters.
No school should force children to buy uniforms from them nor should they create a situation where if you have not bought a uniform from them, then you have not gotten a place. That is not allowed, it is illegal.
Moyo urged parents and guardians to report names of schools that required them to buy student uniforms at their schools so the ministry could take action. He said:
We would like to get evidence of that and even the names of such schools so that we can then take corrective measures.
In January this year, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) wrote to the Goromonzi High School headmaster demanding that he allows two pupils into the school despite their failure to buy uniforms sold by the school.
According to ZLHR, Goromonzi High School said it is its policy that all pupils buy uniforms from the school and those bought even from renowned retailers such as Enbee Stores are not accepted.
ZLHR was representing the father of 2 minor children whose children were barred from attending lessons for not buying uniforms from the school even though they paid school fees in full.
The human rights lawyers demanded that the school’s headmaster unconditionally allow the minor children to attend lessons and permit them to purchase uniforms from a retailer of their choice.
In the event that the Headmaster failed to comply with the demands, ZLHR said they will immediately petition the High Court on an urgent basis seeking an order to compel the school authorities to allow the minor children to pursue their education at Goromonzi High, with the headmaster bearing the cost of the litigation.
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