Nasheed expresses concern over school uniform change

Former President Mohamed Nasheed today expressed dissatisfaction with the government's decision to change the official and activity uniforms for public schools starting in 2027.

He stated that the change will increase the cost of uniforms and that students are currently "adequately covered."

The decision aims to standardize the uniforms across all government schools by 2027, giving schools a year to prepare. The new design will utilize four colors:

Guidelines and design diagrams detailing the uniforms have been sent to schools. Key changes include:

Nasheed criticized the economic impact of the decision, noting that with over 90,000 students currently enrolled, a uniform change would cost at least MVR 900 per child.

He argued that taking over MVR 90 million from parents and "giving that money to textile shops is unjustifiable." Nasheed maintained that "students are already adequately covered."

Nasheed's comments conflict with the reasoning provided by the Minister of Education, Dr. Ismail Shafeeu.

Minister Shafeeu previously stated in an interview with "Mihaaru News" that the major uniform change was decided upon due to widespread complaints from schools and parents regarding the current system.

He claimed the new standardized policy will make uniforms more affordable and help prevent their monopolization by specific vendors. The Ministry of Education estimates that parents will not have to spend more than MVR 350 per child for the new uniform.

The Ministry believes that designating four specific colors for government school uniforms will largely resolve existing challenges, such as the difficulty parents currently face in finding and acquiring the necessary fabric and the inconvenience caused by sales being limited to a single entity.