School uniforms could become mandatory, according to a bill currently on the table of senators. Good news, say the teachers and also the parents who hope, through the implementation of this measure, to eliminate social inequities and also the bullying to which children are subjected.
Students may be required to wear school uniforms. Photo source: archive
“I would enter tomorrow’s uniform,” Andreia Bodea, director of the IL Caragiale National College in Bucharest, told us. “The reason? There are more and more schools that are facing bullying related to the way students who have less opportunities dress. This is something I will never accept. I’m very sensitive when it comes to this. For me it is a personal and deep pain. There are more and more children who suffer terribly because they cannot dress as well as their peers. And the problem would not be how these colleagues dress, but the fact that they brag about it, show off, have the impression that they are superior to the others”.
High school principal: “The little girl’s story broke my heart. It’s outrageous!”
The teacher confessed to us that at the beginning of the school year she had perhaps one of the most troubling experiences since she has been a teacher. “Yesterday I had my first French lesson with a class of nine, of which I am also the conductor. A little girl stood up and took out a pair of green sweatpants from a bag. She asked me if she was allowed to wear them to school because her parents couldn’t buy her any other clothes. Or at least allow her to come dressed like this until mom can buy her something new. You could see in the child that he is a modest one, that he comes from a family with low income. He told me that in grade school his classmates scolded him for dressing like he did in the 70s. And he started to cry. My soul broke! What should I say to this child? I hugged her, reassured her that everything was fine and then turned French class into conducting class. I talked to all the children about bullying, about how they should treat each other, about empathy and respect”.
“Students come to school dressed as if they were in the circus arena”
The headmistress told us that the clothing that students wear at school is the main reason for bullying. “If it were up to me, I would introduce a 21st century uniform, not the one I wore when I was a student. And from this year I will really impose an outfit. In our internal regulation that we will now adapt, we will detail what short skirts mean. In centimeters. Then, we will propose a standard outfit: dark shirt, blouse, t-shirt, trousers or skirt. We will define in great detail what constitutes indecent, inappropriate attire. So far we haven’t had and you don’t want to know how the students came dressed to school. It was as if they were in the circus arena! The girls come in bras with the entire abdomen bare, from the sternum to below the navel. It’s like a bathing suit. They come in low-cut, see-through, tight blouses, with anatomical tights on their bodies. I’m not talking about false eyelashes that look like toothbrushes with nails as long as claws. Then we have another category of students who wear caps over caps, hoods, some hoodies over dresses or skirts, split, torn, fringed, chained pants. And another category, that of students with forms. Here it comes in super company tracksuits with the brand name. Of course, we also have modest children. You actually see them walking with their heads in the ground.”
Teacher Andreia Bodea points the finger at the parents, because problems start at home, from the heart of the family. “Parents, many of them encourage this behavior. When the child goes out the door, when he goes to school, he is seen. Parents see how he is dressed. And I agree. Well, I myself saw extravagant and inappropriately dressed parents on the first day of school. The “matches”, continues the teacher, will not be only with the children. The real fight is with their parents. It’s outrageous, continues the teacher, who promises to take action this year. “The clothing excesses that have been reached are not worrying, they are downright alarming! We should not differentiate ourselves by clothes, but by what we know, what we learn and accumulate. You have to be special by what you have in your head and in your soul, not by your clothes”.
“Education is mandatory. How do we punish those who break the rule?”
Cătălin Nan, the president of the National Federation of Parents, stated for Adevărul that the school uniform can be introduced if, following the consultation of the parents, they agree in their vast majority. “Schools should enforce a house rule that stipulates the introduction of a uniform or a certain dress code. The parents are consulted, the decision is put to a vote and the majority wins. The others obey the rule. It’s simple! We all operate by rules. That would be chaos. You don’t respect them, you are no longer part of that school. Democracy works on simple majority. It doesn’t suit you, leave.”
However, the introduction of a uniform must be taken at a high level, because schools, says director Andreia Bodea, are linked hand and foot. “If I were to impose this rule, I would also have to come up with sanctions for those who do not respect it. And if I invited them to leave the classroom, what do we do? They remain repetitive because of the absences that accumulate. Or the written reprimand that is accompanied by the lowering of the conduct grade. How far do the wear grade go? Because whoever drops below grade 6 remains a repeater. And what do I do? Do I let them repeat just because they came to school dressed inappropriately? Then I expect to be sued by the parents on the idea that I restricted the children’s right to education”.
Cătălin Nan comes up with a suggestion: “A false impression was created that parents are mean, evil and imposing. But it is not so. Most listen to teachers, educators, professors and principals. The school should educate not only the children but also the parents. To teach them how to educate their children. If you wait for the initiative to come from them, it will never come. Parents must be made responsible in making decisions. And what is decided to be respected by everyone. If they and the children also bear the consequences”.
But, says the principal from Caragiale, the school is not allowed to educate, no matter how hard it tries. “Parents stubbornly refuse to change their principles. “Come on, you’re leaving me..this is nonsense”. That’s the way it goes and then you have nothing to do. And this kind of bullying revolts me, breaks my soul. If there is something I would punish with maximum harshness and without mercy, this would be it. No one has the right to point the finger at these children without material possibilities. These students become complex, they don’t want to answer the lessons anymore, they isolate themselves, they hide, they go home frustrated. if you see the modest poor sneaking like that past the walls, you can see the complex on their faces, you can see the distrust, you can see the frustration and suffering”.
Parents’ representative: “Most parents want the introduction of uniforms in schools”
The president of the parents told us that the majority wants the introduction of uniforms in schools. However, there are also many who do not agree. “The percentage is about 55% for, 45% against. Those who want the uniform hope to disappear the social inequities between children. Then, they no longer have that worry of providing the child with I don’t know how many rows of clothes. They have two, three uniforms and that’s it. No one does a fashion show at school anymore.” stated Cătălin Nan. Parents who do not wish to dress their children in uniform are advertising a communist practice to say the least. “They say they don’t want us to put children in the same box, cut off their imagination, freedom of expression, creativity. Many say that we are going back to the time of Ceaușescu, and others consider that the uniforms are expensive. Not everyone will allow them, especially since young students grow up quickly. In two, three months, their uniform will remain small”.
Director Andreia Bodea agrees with this aspect. “Indeed, the authorities will have to look at this issue of costs and come to meet those on modest incomes. Not all parents will have the money to buy these uniforms. We have to think about them too, especially since a student needs two, three shifts”.
What should be done to reconcile both the goat and the cabbage? “A dress code. Children should be aware that they are entering an institution. School is not a place of fun, but of study. We don’t draw on the walls here. This is where we learn. It is an institution that imposes some clear rules that must be followed. Point”, concludes Cătălin Nan.
What does the law currently say?
Currently, according to the legislation, no student can be deprived of the right to education if they do not wear a uniform. This means that while some schools may recommend or even mandate the wearing of uniform, the final decision rests with parents and students. Furthermore, in many institutions, even though uniforms are recommended, students who do not wear them cannot be penalized or given a grade for wearing them. The new framework regulation for the organization and operation of pre-university education units, approved by Order 5726/2024 of the Minister of Education, published in the Official Gazette on August 12, 2024, provides in article 183 paragraph (2), the following: “Measures that may limit the access to education of the primary beneficiaries are prohibited in educational institutions, such as, for example, their performance of service at school, the prohibition of participation in classes or the sanctioning of primary beneficiaries who do not wear the uniform of the educational institution or others also.”
