Accra, Aug. 8, GNA - With effect from September 2005 public basic schools can use any uniform of their choice because the Government has relaxed the policy of using one uniform in basic schools, Mr Leonard T. Tingbani, Director Basic Education Division, Ghana Education Service (GES), said on Monday in Accra.

Mr Tingbani told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that any school or district could decide on the type of material to use. However, it should not be implemented in a way that would militate against attendance of pupils in schools.

He said the process of changing from one uniform to another should be a gradual one and it should not be an excuse to sack any pupil for not wearing the school's preferred uniform.

The change should be done in phases so as not to bring financial burden to parents since they would be faced with the trouble of buying new materials when their children could have continued using the old uniforms.

Mr Tingbani said schools needed to come to a general consensus with Parent-Teacher Associations and other authorities on any change of uniform.

He said the decision to ensure the wearing of one uniform was taken in 1982 when the Government thought it was better to design one particular uniform for use in basic schools. Mr Tingbani said with that decision the brown and yellow materials were available in the market and any parent could easily buy them at reasonable prices.

He, however, warned heads of basic schools not to take this as an opportunity to defraud parents because some schools bought the materials at wholesale prices and sold them to parents at high prices.