School uniforms ‘help integration’

EDUCATION Minister Xavier Darcos has said he favours the idea of children wearing school uniform.

A uniform is a “factor of integration,” said Mr Darcos, on a visit to a London school.

The minister, who previously raised the subject in 2003, said it was not necessary for a uniform to be traditional.

Adding that uniforms were already used in some French overseas territories, he said that when he had suggested it before it was immediately attacked as “reactionary and old-fashioned.”

He added: “They all said: ‘Here we go, he wants to put everyone in grey shirts,’ which wasn’t the case at all.

“A uniform can be a T-shirt with a logo, which shows you belong to a certain school – I think there are a lot of advantages, if only that it removes visible differences of social background or wealth and puts all the pupils on an equal footing.”

There was “nothing scandalous” about the idea, he added.

The minister was visiting the City of London Academy in South London, one of a number of “academies” launched by the Labour government in recent years for inner city areas in public-private partnerships.