Dear Editor,

Since the start of the new academic year, students being locked out of school has become a popular subject in the media.

In a time when we are having discussions about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4, quality education, and Vision 2030’s goal 1: Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potentials, these repeated scenarios are counterproductive to the national objectives we continue to say that we have set out to achieve.

The Ministry of Education needs to acknowledge that this is a serious issue, which must be addressed from the ministry’s end. If individual principals are given the power to set out dress code rules, it, therefore, means that we run the risk of school rules being arbitrarily set to suit the tastes of each principal and school board.

What the ministry needs to do at this time is coin a proper dress code policy for schools, which is not discriminatory against any race, ethnic group, social class, or religious group. Once this is done, parents, students, and every school will have to adhere to the national dress code policy. If anyone has an issue with the dress code at that time, then they would have to take it up directly with the ministry.

As it currently stands, the mode of establishing dress codes in schools is untidy, and in some instances, counterproductive. Access to education is a human right, and we have to take the steps necessary to ensure that we are not depriving the nation’s children of their right to an education based on arbitrary dress code policies.

Kimberley Thompson

kimberleythompson81@yahoo.com