The Ministry of Education is set to take the necessary measures so that parents can avoid purchasing a specific school uniform for their children, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) announced Monday.
ECA Chairperson Mona El-Garf explained in a statement that obliging parents to buy school uniforms from certain places at certain prices “might reduce competitiveness and affect the consumer’s freedom to buy what suits them”.
The Ministry of Education had ordered schools to refrain from changing their uniforms for five years, and banned the sale of uniforms in schools.
The ECA then received several complaints in that regard and, following investigations, it discovered violations of the Protection of Competition Law. A number of schools force parents to buy uniforms from certain places “which makes it hard for any other factory or store to enter the market”.
The authority therefore sent alerts to the Ministry of Education to take the necessary measures to maintain the consumers’ freedom, requesting the amendment of ministerial decrees number 113 and 208 for 1994, so that parents are not obligated to buy uniforms from a specific place.
The 2015/2016 academic year began on Monday. Minister of Education El-Hilali El-Sherbini said the year will be “more stable” due to security plans for schools and educational facilities.
Approximately 22 million students are starting their new academic year, after the government increased spending on education in the FY 2015/2016 state budget to EGP 99.2bn, from EGP 94.4bn in the FY 2014/2015 budget.
