School uniform fetes ‘wrong’

If legislation is not put in place to prevent the further wearing of school uniforms at fetes, members of the Barbados National Council of Parent Teacher Associations (BNCPTA) will take the necessary action to curb the practice.This is the warning coming from Rhonda Blackman, educator and president of the BNCPTA, who stressed that if nothing was done her association would “rally” against the practice because it was wrong.  “I am calling on the powers that be to put their foot down. This Government needs to put rules in place regarding how our school uniforms are worn and ensure they are enforced,” she said.Saying that “no one is to wear a police or Defence Force uniform”, the president added that the police should never have issued a licence to host a fete that “desecrates the sanctity” of the school uniform and undermines what it is supposed to represent.Blackman also made reference to the National Dress Code for secondary schools, implemented in 2008, which stipulates how uniforms should be worn. She continued: “If it is about nostalgia it would be no problem, but to wear the uniform at such events sends the wrong message to children and has implications for how they view their school uniform.” Additionally, Blackman said that when adults indulged in such behaviour, persons did not see the adult but they saw the school uniform, and the image of the school was destroyed.  She also spoke of the circulation on the Internet of a photograph taken at the last inter-school sports meet held at the National Stadium, showing a uniform-clad person exposed.“Many persons were speaking about it and it brought down the image of that school, even though investigations revealed that the person was not a current student but a past student wearing the uniform . . . the damage was already done”, Blackman said.Despite the fact that the back-to-school fetes have been hosted for several years, Blackman said: “A lot of wrong has been going on for years but that does not make it right.”  She added there was a time and place for everything, and the school uniform should be treated with some measure of respect.“The adults are destroying the moral fabric of society when they promote such inappropriate activities . . . They should support the schools and attend the parent-teacher association meetings, instead of pulling down the schools,” Blackman said.Last month Minister of Education Ronald Jones also lambasted this trend. “School uniforms are sacred and should not be at ‘back-to-school fetes’ covering gyrating bodies,” he said: “There are so many things that people can do to enjoy themselves. I want them to leave the uniforms alone. I want them to leave the uniforms for the symbols of the schools,” he added.