Gershwin Wanneburg
FOR Rayhaan Desai, putting on the Bishops College uniform was like donning a superhero cape – even more so because he gained entry to the elite Rondebosch school thanks to a sport scholarship.
Two decades later, he remains enchanted with one of the country’s oldest schools and the power of its trademark charcoal trousers, white shirt and blue blazer.
“We all wore capes and we all had a specific kind of talent that was unmatched… It’s kind of like you’re invincible.
“It’s a feeling I cannot describe,” said Desai, who gained attention as a Western Province cricketer in primary school.
For a Muslim teen from the Cape Flats, entering those privileged private school halls was a culture shock. For one thing, there was the adjustment to a totally different religious environment, having attended Habibia Primary, a Muslim school in Rylands.
He remembers getting ready for his first day at Bishops in 2002. His blazer was five sizes too big because his dad had wanted it to last up to matric. On his feet were his grandpa’s size nine Caterpillar shoes.
“I was very much an outsider who had to earn his stripes, but once I put on that uniform, it was my time to prove people wrong,” recalls the 34 year old, who now works as a stock planner at Woolworths.
“The worst part for me is I can’t give my son the same opportunity that I received. If I apply now for my son, he’ll be ignored, despite what I gave to Bishops, as a sportsman and as a learner there,” he said.
Ultimately, it appears Desai had much more in common with learners on the other side of the peninsula, for whom a uniform remains a luxury.
When he was at Bishops, even a second-hand uniform was not easy to come by. It often exceeded the price of his tuition fees. His parents, both teachers, also had to cover extramural activities.
Back then, his reduced school fees were around R10 000 – about half of what he pays today for his son’s Grade R public school. During his time, annual tuition at Bishops was around R80 000. In 2023, it costs around R185 000. With boarding, that grows to R311 960.
Desai’s story is rare, and contains so many South African ironies, exposed by the Competition Commission’s efforts to curb price-fixing among school uniform manufacturers.
These efforts have sparked renewed debate about the relevance of uniforms, especially as parents struggle to cope with rising prices.
Basic school items, such as grey pants, go for as little as R100 at Pep, while the cost of a blazer ranges from R400 to R1 000 and up at the province’s top schools.
Lebogang Montjane, executive director of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa, said uniform price tags can be daunting.
In the long run, though, it was more economical than buying civilian clothing (civvies) on a regular basis.
“In addition, uniforms function as an important social equaliser, especially in the South African context, that allow all children to have a largely similar level and appearance of attire that helps to remove competitive and unflattering comparisons between children who come from more affluent families who can afford the latest fashions and designer labels and those whose parents cannot,” Montjane said.
ANC spokesperson on Education in the Western Cape legislature, Khalid Sayed, said the provincial department should intervene to help learners who cannot afford uniforms.
“The Competition Commission has ruled already that it is illegal for schools to demand that learners purchase school uniforms at specific retailers. It is illegal, but it’s still happening,” Sayed said.
He said recent shack fires, which destroyed the homes of hundreds of families in Philippi, Masiphumelele, Dunoon, Khayelitsha and Strand, had exacerbated the uniform crisis.
“Many learners’ school uniforms have been burnt. Now the challenge that arises is that many schools, even though it’s not a requirement, they prevent the learners from starting school with everyone else if the learner doesn’t have the uniform. That’s humiliating and it’s unacceptable.”
The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools’ (Fedsas’) deputy CEO, Juane van der Merwe, said parents should give input around issues such as uniforms.
“If school governing bodies used their bargaining power to buy in bulk, they might have been able to sidestep the inflation implications,| she said.
Van der Merwe said keeping uniforms generic could also help to cut costs.
“It would be inhumane of a school to exclude learners who’ve been through something so traumatic as a fire and losing everything and now excluding them from school as well.”
Image consultant and Regal Profile’s CEO Joyce Constable said: “School uniforms give learners a sense of identity. It symbolises the values and principles associated with a school. A uniform offers economic anonymity.
“If everyone wears the same thing, there's no time to worry about who's wearing shoes from Pep and who's wearing Dolce and Gabbana.”
Provincial secretary of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union, Deon Simons, said the scrapping of uniforms would have serious economic consequences for the sector.
“There should be other mechanisms … to assist the poorest of the poor who are unable to buy a school uniform. Maybe that is what the education department and the minister and her team should do without even the public and parents asking for assistance.”
Weekend Argus