HARARE – Parents of pupils at Dudley Hall Primary School in Norton have accused the school administration of inflating uniform prices and compelling families to purchase from a single supplier.
Parents of incoming Early Childhood Development A (ECDA) pupils allegedly claimed the supplier is struggling with a massive backlog from the previous year.
According to several affected parents who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, the school initially quoted US$350 for the complete girls’ uniform set when places were offered for the 2026 academic year.
However, when parents arrived to collect the official uniform list, they were presented with a new total of US$403 for girls and over US$350 for boys – an increase of more than 15% with no explanation.
“The school is literally forcing us to buy from one supplier who still owes uniforms to last year’s parents,” one mother told this publication.
“Some Grade One children from 2025 are still waiting for their winter jerseys and tracksuits. How can they expect us to pay hundreds of dollars upfront and then tell us to wait until winter – or longer?”
Parents say the school has refused to provide a simple itemised list with specifications and approved colours, a standard practice at most government schools that allows families to shop around at competitive retailers in Harare, Norton, and beyond.
“We just want the list so we can compare prices and buy the same quality, or even better, from established shops that have stock right now,” another father explained.
“US$403 for a four-year-old’s uniform is outrageous when the entire ECD fee at many government schools is far less than that.”
The school has set Monday, 17 November, as both the deadline for uniform payments and the scheduled orientation day for the new ECDA intake.
Parents collectively rejected the inflated prices and demanded an urgent meeting with the school administration and the School Development Committee (SDC).
It remains to be seen if the Ministry of Education can intervene and save parents from this extortion which has been going on for some time.
Efforts to get a comment from Dudley Hall Primary School authorities or the Education ministry were fruitless at the time of publication.
