School uniforms and responsibilities

School uniforms are a hot topic on parenting forums every year. The million-dollar cost of buying school uniforms, along with enough income and expenses at the beginning of the year, especially for families with limited income, is a real concern for parents.

Ms. Tuyen, a parent in Ho Chi Minh City, estimated the total cost of buying books and uniforms for her two children at the beginning of the school year to be nearly 4 million VND, not to mention the need to pay for boarding meals and many other socialized subjects during the school year.

School uniforms come in all shapes and sizes. Some schools only require white shirts and dark pants (or skirts); others require separate uniforms for weekdays, gym uniforms, boarding school uniforms, etc. with the school logo attached to the shirts. The millions spent on school uniforms adds to the burden on families' income and expenses at the beginning of the year.

When talking to many parents, students, management teams and teachers, we realized that their top concerns about student uniforms are elegant design, age-appropriate; durable, cool, easy-to-move materials, affordable and economical. In addition, it needs to be long-term stability, not costly to change every year and can be reused. These are completely legitimate wishes.

At the conference on responsible fashion consumption held in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday (September 6), Pham Minh Trang, 18 years old, a first-year student at Fulbright University Vietnam, a former student of the High School for the Gifted (Ho Chi Minh City National University), raised a problem. For example, the whole country has about 17 million high school students, each student buys 3-5 uniforms/school year, so each year there are tens of millions of student uniforms produced. But the uniforms can only be worn for a few years (according to the students' schooling process), and when their life cycle ends, where will they go?

"Will my uniforms contribute to the 2.1 million tons of textile waste in Vietnam each year - the number given by the World Bank? I imagine a mountain of waste that will one day flow into the ocean, causing climate change, polluting water sources...", Minh Trang said.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Mai Huong, working at the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University), also shared about uniforms as a mother. Her child is also a student, each year has 4-5 uniforms. After her child finishes school, she only keeps 1 set as a souvenir, the rest she does not know how to handle. Therefore, besides beautiful uniforms that her children like to wear because they are cool and comfortable, she raises the issue of the environmental responsibility of uniforms.

Solving this problem requires many parties. Manufacturers choose materials to make uniforms durable, long-lasting, and easy to recycle. Schools, parents, and students need to be responsible consumers - choosing uniforms that can easily extend their "life cycle", becoming multi-purpose fashion, not just looking pretty but "fast fashion" - fast fashion that is quickly discarded, wasteful, and polluting.

Obviously, the meaning of the uniform to erase the gap, create equality, build awareness and discipline of students is probably something that does not need to be discussed further. However, the uniform also has responsibilities that need to be considered carefully and thoroughly from many sides.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dong-phuc-hoc-sinh-va-trach-nhiem-185250906221530175.htm