Are uniforms such a necessity?

I have lived in Indonesia for three years now, but it was not long after I arrived that the importance of a uniform here was obvious. Everywhere I go in Jakarta, uniforms are proudly worn by various groups of people. Whilst working as a volunteer both with a school sponsorship program in South Jakarta and overseeing a feeding program at a school in North Jakarta, I realized that this emphasis begins at an early age.

It would seem that parents who can barely afford to educate their children at all, are expected to find significant sums of money to cover the cost of up to four uniforms a week for their children. Parents will then keep their children from school if they cannot pay and children who do not have the official uniform for a particular day are too ashamed to come into school. This can even be the case if uniforms have been lost in a kampung fire.

I also find it alarming that some teachers seem to be selling uniforms on the side. In some countries around the world such as America and Norway, school children need no uniform at all. My children attend a British school, where they have one uniform for study and one for physical education. In a hot country like Indonesia only one uniform set would be required since clothing can easily be dried overnight. Maybe in some families more than one child would be able to go to school if the financial burden of uniforms were not so great.

When I have spoken to local friends about this issue, they respond by saying that this is a tradition that goes back many years. True, uniforms can help to promote unity among a group of people, but surely one per week would be sufficient. One's self as an individual is also important for young people to understand. I believe that it the responsibility of the teachers and school officials to dilute the importance of uniforms. Maybe, start by having one day a week when all children come to school in anything they please. Surely it is better to come to school dressed in anything you happen to have, than to receive no education at all?

Now school books, that's another sorry story.

CAROL HODGKISS

Jakarta