The Competition Authority has put on notice public and private schools who have been recommending specific outlets for parents to buy school uniform from.
In a notice to the public, the authority director general said on Monday that some schools specify in their admission letters, and school joining instructions where parents can purchase uniforms without any explicit benefit to the consumers.
The director general has cautioned the school principals and administrators from the criticised conduct, saying parents are free to buy uniforms from their preferred outlets.
“Parents should be free to buy uniforms from their preferred shops/outlets as long as school uniform bought meets the colour, shade, thread count and design as prescribed by the respective schools,” the CAK DG said.
Members of the public affected by the conduct have been asked to contact the authority through [email protected].
Section 7 of the authority’s Act, No. 12 of 2010 (The Act) enables the authority to enhance the welfare of Kenyans, promote and protect effective competition, and prevent misleading market conduct.
Last year, leaders drawn from Makueni and Machakos counties urged the Ministry of Education to bar school principals from forcing students to buy uniform at the school to join Form 1.
The leaders said the trend was deterring 100 per cent transition to secondary school.
Uniform from the schools were more expensive with someone benefitting from the difference, parents noted.
