Generic school uniforms 'could save parents €300 a year'

The Minister for Education is being urged to enforce new uniform regulations which will save parents thousands of euro over a school lifetime.

MummyPages.ie has set up an online campaign to gather expressions of support for the initiative.

Laura Haugh of MummyPages.ie explained how the savings can be made.

"If they were to adopt our crest-fee generic uniform policy, they could save over €300 - because they'd be able to buy a double set of...generic uniforms in their local department store for €86," she said.

"And if you add an iron-on or a stitch-on crest to that, for those schools that like to retain their sense of identity, that's only going to add another €10 to that total cost."

She added: "The financial pressure placed on parents to buy the school-specific, crest-emblazoned clothing is too much and completely unnecessary especially when there is an easy, cost friendly solution available.

"It is completely unreasonable for any school to ask parents to buy expensive school uniforms, especially given their short life span with children going through growth spurts and heavy daily wear and tear.

"Successful implementation of this initiative would involve school management buying school crests in bulk on behalf of parents and selling them individually to parents.

"The cost per crest would amount to €1 to €1.50 each. Parents could then be allowed to buy a full generic uniform in a specified department store for as little as €6.

"The crests can be ironed on to jumpers, blazers, tracksuits, pinafores, t-shirts and even school bags, saving parents hundreds of euro.

"Parents should be given the chance to have their say and at MummyPages.ie we are providing a forum to do just that. The results will then be presented to Government and school boards nationwide."