Williams stands firmly with school boards deciding uniform policies Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Education and Youth Minister, Fayval Williams, has declared that it will be left up to school boards to determine the dress code for students at their respective local institutions.

“… It is not our (the ministry’s) intention to prescribe the length of a girl’s uniform or the length of a boy’s pants or the size of it,” said Williams during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday.

“We leave those decisions to our boards in our schools and each school has a board comprising a parent and student representative,” stated Williams.

The formal position of the ministry comes in the wake of several calls for the Government to swiftly craft a general dress code policy governing all schools following recent incidents of students being barred from schools due to the lengths and sizes of their uniforms.

One such case was highlighted earlier this month when parents alleged that students of Godfrey Stewart High School in St James were barred from entering the school compound after not adhering to the school’s uniform policy.

Williams said that based on her understanding of the situation at the school, the decision relative to the length of uniform was arrived at following a process.

“The parents were sensitised, starting in May of this year,” she said.

“My position as a minister — our position as a ministry — is that we will continue to stand on the side of discipline, of law and order.

“We believe our schools are the ideal place in which to teach our students to obey rules, beginning with obeying the school rules,” Williams indicated.

Turning to the general uniform policy now in place, the minister described it as being an “overarching one”, where “it does not prescribe the details for our schools”.

She elaborated, “The policy says to all our schools that the local policy of each school should be written.

“It should be arrived at through a consultative process with all stakeholders (parents, teachers and students). The policy should recognise cultural differences, religious differences, and so on.”

Additionally, she said the local policy must be applied fairly across the board.

Williams said parents and students who do not like an aspect of their school’s rules, should engage in a process.

“If there are rules that as a parent, a student, a teacher in the system, that you do not like, we are encouraging you to engage in the process.

“It could be a simple meeting with the principal. You may have to move from that if you feel that you did not get a (proper) hearing. You may have to write to the board, (or) you may have to advocate peacefully with other parents,” Williams advised.

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