By Enock Okong’o
Uniform sellers in Kisii County are protesting the hoarding and selling of uniforms by secondary school Principals despite Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu outlawing the practice.
Led by Robert Mwebi they said that they feared closure of their businesses and incurrence of losses unless the government intervenes.
“The principals get uniforms and heap them in their schools then sell them to parents despite the fact that the CS barred them from doing so,” he said.
They accused the Principals and their bursars of playing middlemen and urged them to desist from the practice.
However a Principal, who talked to Education News on condition of anonymity, denied the allegations.
He said that they did not hoard the uniforms in their schools but instead instructed specific sellers to sell them to the students for the purpose of uniformity.
“If we allow each parent to buy uniforms for their children from anywhere, the school will become a collection of dressing styles,” he said
The Principal who heads an Extra County secondary school called for a harmonious working relationship between schools and traders in the region.
“We are not here to fight with them in the business but there is need to work with each other interdependently,” he said.
Sospeter Orina, a parent, said that he was instructed by his son’s principal to buy uniforms from a specific shop whose prices were higher than those in general shops.
“I suspected foul play in the arrangement but I could not complain because I am a new parent,” he said.
A spot check by Education News during school reopening this term, revealed that most secondary schools stored uniforms in their offices and asked parents to pay extra money apart from the one indicated in the school fees payment schedule.
