In addition to instilling discipline, school uniforms have always served the purpose of giving learners, regardless of their background, a unified identity within the school premises.
So this begs the question: Have they reduced clothing expenditures for South African parents since this year’s back-to-school season began?
CEO of PEP Clothing, Marthie Raphael has explained that their retailer supports the ruling that school uniforms should be affordable because this should not prevent children from attending school.
She adds that raw materials often determine the costs of the end product and that when the manufacturer produces in small quantities, the uniform is likely to be expensive. However, the opposite occurs when you produce in large quantities since it lowers production costs
Fachmy Abrahams, a collective bargaining officer from SACTWU explains that as a union they have always supported the mass production of school uniforms as this not only lowers costs but also contributes to jobs creation in the country.