How uniforms help our students succeed

Students at Musaga Secondary School, which has had many of its students sponsored through CES donations, are on their way to school, in crisp uniforms. CES built this school with funding from Canadian donors.

Have you ever gone to a meeting or other event and found yourself wrongly dressed for the occasion? Maybe you picked a “casual” style, when everyone else is formal. You may have felt out of place, and found it hard to accomplish what you were there to do.

Our students are like that. Clothing and appearance matter to their success.

The feeling of security a school uniform brings

That’s particularly true in that we focus on helping students who are, in the words of our Patron, Malik Khaemba, “poor, bright and ambitious.” Often, the “poor” part of that gets in the way of the “bright and ambitious.” Many come from families with few financial resources. There’s very little money available in the family for items like the required school uniforms. So, these would-be students are often stuck with uniforms that are hand-me-downs from elder siblings or relatives, or bought second-hand in the market.

I asked one of our graduate students, who comes from a poor family, what that’s like.

She said that in some cases, families can’t afford a “proper” uniform that’s durable and well made. So they’ll substitute with low-quality alternatives that look okay when newly bought, but the material and seam tear easily and don’t stay presentable for long.

Some students only have one, maybe two changes of uniform. Speaking as someone with ready access to a washer and dryer that has the job done in under an hour, it didn’t occur to me that this would be a big problem. But my informant reminded me that most of our students need to wash their clothing by hand and then air-dry it. If they wash their uniform in the evening, there is little chance it will be dry by morning, particularly during rainy season.

As a result, students from poor families undergo ridicule from their peers. And in many cases, they can’t pass the eagle eyes of Kenyan principals and schoolteachers. Kenyans take great pride in their appearance, and these lessons are instilled from an early age, partly through the school system.

So, what happens? “You become a ghost,” my informant said. You hide at the back of the classroom and try to avoid being noticed. You don’t participate in class discussions. You don’t talk with the teacher at all.

It can also mean that students from poor families often get sent home from school, for not keeping up the required appearances. This is as painful as you might imagine – they’re missing out on schooling, ostracized from peers, and their self-esteem is damaged. And they know that when they get home, it’s unlikely that a new uniform will have materialized in their absence. They may dread going back to school the next day, hoping that the school staff will be more lenient. Because of the need to keep up the school’s appearances, that is rarely the case.

So that’s part of what CES does. We make sure that all our secondary school students have appropriate uniforms for their school. 

What you can do

Help us make sure that our secondary school students can take meet their school’s requirements, take pride in their appearance, fit in, and participate fully in their studies.

Our team in Kenya tell us that to buy a school uniform – usually a sweater, a pair of long trousers or a skirt, blouse or shirt, shoes, socks and tie – most Kenyan parents would need to spend about 7,500 Kenyan shillings, or $100 Canadian, and that would include two sets of a uniform.

Your donation of $100 can help us provide this important element of a good education.