2024-03-26 20:45:58
Parents of students in Puteaux discovered with amazement that the uniforms distributed to their children were made in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Published on 03/26/2024 9:45 p.m.
Reading time: 2 mins
Puteaux and Béziers are experimenting with uniforms in several of their schools. Illustrative photo. (DYLAN MEIFFRET / MAXPPP)
A hiccup in the experimentation of uniforms at school. In Puteaux, one of the two test cities with Béziers, the clothes distributed to students – 900 are concerned – supposed to have been made in the European Union are “made in” Bangladesh and Pakistan. The town hall requested explanations from the company which delivered the uniforms during a meeting on Tuesday March 26. The parents who discovered it are critical and certain voices from the municipal opposition are speaking out.
“I read ‘made in Pakistan’, it’s crazy!” Osni cautiously discovers the label in his daughter’s polo shirt in CE2: “It may be of concern in the sense that it is above all a request from the State. We do not know the conditions in which they are manufactured.” Emmanuelle, another parent of a student, is on the same line: “They gave them to us, we didn’t pay for them”she says.
“If I had to buy clothing, I would not have bought clothes that were made in Bangladesh. Precisely because we know that the conditions of workers in the textile industry are not good.”
Emmanuelle, parent of a student in Puteaux
at franceinfo
She questions the responsibility of Puteaux town hall: “If it turns out that they were aware, yes, I am shocked since we know very well that it is a question of price. On the other hand, if they were not aware, there is simply negligent.”
An “extremely short deadline” responds the town hall
For Isabelle, there is a clear breakdown of trust: “There’s no need to even procrastinate. Either we do something and remain compliant with the specifications: it had to be done in the European Union. Or we keep quiet.” Francis Poézévara, opposition municipal councilor from the Générations party, against the very principle of uniforms at school, drives home the point: “It’s lamentable. The symbol is still enormous. We put our children in uniforms which, perhaps, were made by children who are their age. What are we telling our children behind ? Not to mention the ecological cost. In short, it’s lamentable.”
On the side of the Puteaux town hall, we respond that in fact, it was planned that the uniforms would be manufactured in Portugal, but taking into account “extremely short deadline”, impossible to keep this commitment. The clothes display several eco-responsible labels, the town hall also defends. She promises that the specifications will be respected for the fourth school which will integrate the system at the start of the school year.
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