The current discussion
hitting the airwaves in Kenya is whether or not school girls should wear mini skirts,
thanks to Rwathia girls high school in Kangema district who recently went on
strike demanding shorter and more appealing uniform and adding on it is the controversial
remarks made by the Minister for Education Hon Mutula Kilonzo who backed the
demands made by the girls of wanting to be allowed to wear short skirts.
The miniskirts debate
has seen many leaders including clerics and parents point accusing fingers on the
Minister following his remarks he made during a district education day at
Chelilis girls high school in Bureti.
“I am in total
agreement with them (students) why do you dress a schoolgirl like a nun? These
girls do not want to be nuns; they want to be modern like Mutula”, Kilonzo
said.
The miniskirt debate
has seen most parents call on the Minister to leave their children’s welfare to
them and teachers adding that together with the institutions of learning, they
are best positioned to know what suits their children. Leaving the question on
what is the importance of miniskirts to teenagers over their education?
Some proponents for the
miniskirts twist argue that the students should be given the opportunity to
dress in line with the current trends in fashion adding that the more the
trendy they become, the more decent they are and is the reason that many
believe Rwathia girls went on strike over allegations that the skirts were too
long and not meant for their ages.
Most argue out that the
miniskirts which were most fashionable in Kenya particularly in the early 1960s
and 70s didn’t cause any fuss as students went on with their studies
comfortably oblivious of the fact that the miniskirt dressing was fashionable
and not debatable as is the case at the moment.
Stephen Sorobit 40, a
parent of two strongly believes that schoolgirls should forget about wearing
miniskirts in school, adding that the current skirt size is ideal and helps in restoring
discipline in a child.
“ As a parent I can’t
allow my child to put on a miniskirt, this will lead to the rise of
indiscipline among students as each one tries to outdo the other in putting on
the shortest of them all”, Sorobit explains.
He believes that school
heads and parents should have a stake in the kind of uniform they want for the
students and the ideal size. He further adds that giving the children an
opportunity to dress the way they want yet they are still under the adolescent
period will not be appropriate.
“The schoolgirls want to
wear miniskirts and yet they are still young in mind and at the same time, they
are still trying to discover themselves in the adolescent period making it
impossible for them to have their way”, Sorobit reveals.
As the raging debate
continues, most teachers in the country have also added their voice on the
current issue saying that the students need to put their focus on learning
because that is what will make them successful in life adding that clothes won’t
add anything towards their quest for education.
“These students should
not expect that when they are adorned in miniskirts, then they will
automatically pass their exams. In fact it will be a challenge for them because
of the current societal inference of someone wearing a miniskirt”, quipped
Elsie Muthoni, a head teacher at Chepkigen Secondary.
The Kenyan debate on
whether the schoolgirls should put on miniskirts or not is a clear example of
the current intricacies in which the students have been able to grasp
especially with the current advancements in technology and the ever changing
media content mainly from Tv and movies enabling most students to copy what
they see.
Kenyan schoolgirls are
not alone in fighting for what they think is ‘right’ for them, across the
continent some schools have had the same pain of the pinch. In December 23
2009, the independent news site (www.independent.co.uk)
reported that students across France revolted demanding that the right to wear
raunchy clothing banned by educators. The site indicates that at Lycee
Condorcet d’arcdnon in Gironde, 200 students protested against a new dress code
which stated that students should not wear low slung trousers, short garments
or piercings.
The protest in Essionne
was in retaliation to the rules imposed by a new head teacher who banned holes
in trousers and in garments above the knee.
Back in Kenya, the
debate rages on even after Hon. Mutula Kilonzo came out recently denying his
earlier advocacy for miniskirts adding that he only talked about skirts the
girls would be comfortable in.
“I will show Kenyans
the kind of a skirt I am talking about, then bishops will tell me whether it
undermines morality”, he said.
Kenyans now wait to see
whether the miniskirts issue will cool off even as politicians and opinion
leaders continue to call out against the purported dressing.
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