As of yesterday, my timeline has been filled with postings of the story about a Sarawakian being thrown out of class for wearing a baju kurung. Apparently the school has a rule that baju kurung is exclusively for Malay students. Reason given was that the girl did not wear a camisole and therefore her baju kurung was see thru. Even so, why throw her out of class? And why is it exclusively for Malay students? Is it because Malay students wear tudung and that covers the chest area? School attire has been an issue for as long as I can remember. Back in 1999, my fellow female students and I were subjected to a spot check. We were all brought to the schools Surau and told to remove our tudung (it was compulsory to wear a tudung in my school. No, I did not attend a religious school, it was a sekolah kebangsaan with strict religious rules) and the teachers checked our hair to see if it was dyed, and if we were using coloured hairbands or scrunchies. Honestly, why bother what colour accessories we use when we were all covered up anyway? On top of that, it was never stated in the rule book that we were not allowed to use coloured hair accessories. Girls who had dyed their hair were given a stern warning (some claimed the teachers chopped up their hair) and my own scrunchie was confiscated for being blue with flower patterns. A classmate had slightly long nails because she was having her period (Some Muslims choose not to cut their nails during their period because it is Makruh). The same teacher who confiscated my scrunchie asked her Are you lying to me? and my friend said No, I am really menstruating. The teacher then reached down to feel if she was really using a sanitary pad. I was so upset with what had happened that I marched straight to the Pengetuas office to protest. My complaints fell upon deaf ears as the Pengetua chose to simply walk away as I was talking to her. Further enraged, I went home, wrote an anonymous complain letter to NST and the following week it got published. There were whispers that I was behind the letter but I never admitted to it. Anyway, it resulted in parents coming to the school to see the Pengetua. Instead of issuing an apology to all who had been subjected to this atrocity, the school just pretended nothing had happened and this incident quietly went away. I hear that child molester of a teacher lost her mind and one day just stopped appearing at school. Now this baju kurung incident has reminded me of what had happened in my school back in 1999. All I can say is, the education ministry should not be surprised that some schools simply create their own rules when it comes to school attire. It has been going on for many years.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:46:21 +0000
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