Female high school students permitted to wear abayas in Konya
Gülseven Özkan – KONYA
The principal of the Konya Meram Anatolian High School, Mehmet Emin Karataş, permitted the request of around 40 female students to wear an abaya over their school uniform, which is consists of pants, a T-shirt and sweater.
While the students of the school dressed casually during the last school year, they will be wearing school uniforms during the 2015-2016 school year as a result of a survey conducted among the students’ parents.
“Ninety percent of the parents wanted to change to the uniform system. We got official documents from them too … There are a total of 802 students at our school. Between 30 and 40 of the students cover their head with a headscarf. These students said, ‘Allow us to wear a tunic and abaya apart from the pants, T-shirt and sweater,’” said Karataş.
He added that this was not compulsory for either the students wearing a headscarf or those without a head covering.
“If they want, they can also wear an abaya,” Karataş said.
Female students are forbidden to wear skirts as a uniform because the majority of the students voted for pants in the survey conducted among them.
During the decision process on what the students were to wear, Karataş said commissions were established with a representative from all the classes.
Karataş said they had received complaints from some of the parents about allowing female students to wear abayas but the decision belonged to the students.