Students' 'take off pants' protest

More than 1,600 secondary students took off their long pants during a school assembly to protest against a ban on the wearing of shorts.

The National Tainan Girls' Senior High School in Taiwan recently introduced a new rule banning students from wearing shorts, except during physical education classes.

The co-educational school also told the students to zip up their sport jackets.

Some students regard the new rules as a breach of the school's liberal and democratic spirit.

They claimed that they had requested a meeting with the school's officials but were rebuffed so they launched a protest against the new rulings via text messages and the Internet.
The students taking off their long pants at the school assembly

The students taking off their long pants at the school assembly

At one morning this week, the students wore their usual winter uniform - long-sleeve shirt with long pants - to attend the school assembly.

But right after the flag-raising ceremony and official greetings, about 80 percent of the 2,000 students took off their long pants together, wearing only their shorts underneath.

School principal Tsou Chun-hsuan responded by saying he "loves the shorts" and that the school would respect and listen to the students' appeals.

He immediately called for a meeting with the student representatives and decided to compromise on the matter.

Secretary of the school Joyce Wang told The China Post, "The principal knew about the protest beforehand but decided to have the assembly as normal, so that the students have a method to register their protest."

The school had issued questionnaires on the uniform regulations to the students and had set March 30, to meet with the students to further discuss the issue.

Lai Yu-mei, secretary general of Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association, said it was sad that the students had to take such a radical actions for the school to hear their voice.

"We had received complaints from students of many other schools that uniform regulations are rigid and unreasonable."

In most Taiwan schools, wearing a dress is still compulsory for female students, which Lai described as against the Gender Equity Education Act.

She said schools should allow students to decide on what they should wear.

- Indian Journalist.