High school bans skirt for female students in Turkey's Antalya

ISTANBUL

Gazi Anatolian High School in Antalya banned skirts for its female students, leaving pants as the only option to wear to school. File photo/ DHA

A high school in the southern province of Antalya has banned skirts for its female students, leaving long pants as the only option for girls to wear to school.

The Gazi Anatolian High School in Antalya forbade its female students from wearing skirts as part of the school uniform, according to daily Cumhuriyet.

Hayri Baş, the school’s principle, said that this year’s uniform was decided to be composed of gray pants and a white t-shirt for both male and female students, a decision that was also approved by the Parent-Teacher Association.

“This decision has been met according to the new statute. It has been adopted that our children wear uniforms. So we have decided that both male and female students wear pants. In this way our children will be more at ease,” said Baş.

He added that female students would find pants more comfortable. “What’s more, the students of our school are older. We think that by wearing pants they will not encounter problems while using the stairs,” Baş said.

This decision will be implemented for new students at the school, while older female students will be allowed to wear skirts.

One parent of a female student who has just started at the school, said her daughter was just a naïve girl and she could not understand such a decision.

“I do not understand the logic of forbidding a female student from wearing a skirt,” the parent said.