Debate contribution: School Uniforms: Affordability
Debate contribution by Mr Danny Baker on .
- MLA
- Mr Danny Baker
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 5 March 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- School Uniforms: Affordability
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4252524
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Education is our children's passport to the future, and we have to open the door for them to walk through rather than create barriers. A survey for Save the Children NI highlighted the fact that one in 10 children has missed out on school because of a uniform issue. That potentially means that 35,000 children and young people are missing school days because of uniform. Our children deserve better. Every child and young person has the right to an education, and, if cost becomes a barrier, the system is broken. The cost of some school uniforms could easily match that of a designer outfit. School uniform is supposed to be the great equaliser, levelling the playing field for children and young people in our classrooms and promoting a shared identity and equality. It seems, however, that those ideas have been lost somewhere along the way. Year-on-year, parents are putting themselves into debt just to afford uniforms for their children. That cycle of debt is hard to escape. Families rely on credit union loans and credit cards to buy school uniforms, with the worry and stress of repaying that debt throughout the year, only for the cycle to repeat itself in the new school year. To fully understand the challenges that parents face, it is important that real-life stories be heard in the Chamber. I will share a story from one of my constituents. Rachel, a mother of three, one of whom has additional needs, told me of the stress, financial pressure and outright worry that she and her husband face every year in getting their kids ready to go back to school and supporting them throughout the year. For her two daughters, who are in secondary school, the cost is frightening. The two blazers that the school requires cost £270. Then come the jumpers with the logo, shoes, skirts, shirts, ties and PE kits. All in, for the girls, the cost is nearly £800. Rachel's son, who is in primary school, not only needs his uniform but has additional requirements, such as ear defenders and sensory issue-friendly shoes, to make him more comfortable in the classroom, which total £230. All in, before a pen or pencil is bought, before transport and lunch costs, that family has spent £1,000. That is not sustainable, and something has to give. Sinn Féin wants to deliver real change for our children and families. It is clear that the uniform grant needs to be increased and expanded. It is unfair that the area with the highest level of deprivation in Britain and Ireland has the lowest uniform grant. We want the grant to be available to more families, and it should be increased to cover more costs. School uniforms need to be more generic and easier to access from more suppliers. Despite guidance from the Department that that should be the case, school uniforms are still unaffordable. We have to work with schools, teachers and boards of governors to make sure that the change that families, children and young people want to see is not only felt but delivered at every level of the education system. There needs to be a legal obligation along with support and guidance for schools from the Department. The motion today is a step in the right direction. Let us work together to ensure that the voices of Rachel's family and the many parents who are out there are heard loud and clear and, most importantly, that we deliver real change to ensure that every child has free and accessible education and that their uniforms are affordable. Our children and our families deserve better.
604 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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