VietNamNet Bridge – No one could imagine before that tapering trousers would become the main topic in the arguments among Vietnamese educators.

About 100 students of a high school in Can Tho City last week were not allowed to enter the school because they wore the trousers with wrong specifications.

The school requests students go to class in uniform, with the loose trousers. However, the students spontaneously narrowed the trousers legs from 18-20 cm as stipulated by the school to 12 cm and went to school in the trousers.

The school’s board of management, explaining its decision, said that the students violated the regulations set up by the school, for which they needed to be punished.

The school also said that the girls are students and they need to wear the uniforms suitable to the schooling environment. Meanwhile, pegtops look “suggestive” which must not be seen at school. The representative of the school said it is not an unreasonable demand to request students to wear loose uniforms to school.

The news has immediately become a hot topic on online education forums. Parents all have raised their voice advocating the Ha Huy Giap School’s decision, suggesting that other schools should also set up such strict regulations in order to ensure the atmosphere in the education environment.

Meanwhile, the majority of students have applauded the behavior of the school girls of wearing fashionable clothes to school. They said that one should not crash the personality and the creativeness of students, in the name of the “education environment.”

While parents emphasize that the school’s regulations must be respected, students complain that freedom for students does not exist in schools.

Ngan Hoa, a VietNamNet’s reader, wrote to the editorial board that the students need to be explained that people’s clothing needs to be suitable to the environment and the circumstances.

“School is not a theater, and they must not be wear too flashy or unreasonable clothes,” she said.

She went on to say that loose clothes are still fashionable and suitable to modern students. Therefore, students should not complain that they have to wear the “rustic” and out-of-fashion clothes to school.

Bach Khoa, a parent, agrees with Hoa, said that the strict regulations on uniforms have been set up by the schools all over the world. This is a legitimate requirement.

“Students should dress up reasonably when going to school. They can only show their personality and dressing style in other environments,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hoa Binh, who introduced herself as a student from a rural school, said she would not protest tapering trousers, though she herself goes to school in loose uniforms provided by the school. In principle, students have the right to wear what they want, provided that they do not break the standards and morality standards.

As such, a trivial matter happening in a high school in a southern province has triggered a sensational argument about how to educate students in the modern times.

The story would not have caught the public attention if it had happened many years ago. However, it has shaken the education forums at this moment, when the Ministry of Education and Training and educators have been criticized for the unreasonable educational system which does not allow students to show their creativeness.

Kieu Oanh