Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
School boards need to keep the cost of uniforms in check, the deputy prime minister says, calling the prices at some schools outrageous.
Families are struggling with the cost of uniforms as the school year gets underway, with some costing close to $1000.
David Seymour, who is also associate education minister, told First Up that price was outrageous and unnecessary.
“It’s an astonishing figure and totally outrageous and unnecessary given the pressure that a lot of people are facing at this point in the economy.”
The school uniform for students at Westlake Boys’ High School costs roughly $550, headmaster Paul Fordham said and is central to its identity.
“When they are arriving at school with a strong sense of identity, they’re confident, and therefore they engage across the school in a better way as well,” he told Morning Report.
“I know there’s some commentary around school uniforms and the cost attached to that, but it means that there’s no other clothing required to be purchased for school throughout the year.”
Otago University public health researcher Johanna Reidy found secondary school uniforms can cost anywhere from $250 to about $1000.
“Even the most competitively priced uniform can be unaffordable when there are other demands on the family budget.”
Seymour said Boards of Trustees and principals governed schools.
“There’s no government edict that says that you have to have this specific polo shirt that magically multiplies in value by a factor of about 90 because it has the school crest and you’re only allowed that one.
“It’s well within the power of Boards of Trustees and principals to make rules – they can make a rule that they don’t have any uniform if they want.”
Seymour said he was personally a fan of school uniforms but “they could certainly make rules that are far more inclusive”.
When he was at intermediate, his school only required students wear a red or black polo with a collar, saying there were options that were a lot more affordable” than what is “pushed around now”.
He urged Boards of Trustees to do something to help, saying it was an area the government could intervene “but we try let people run their own show”.
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