Stu­dents at­tend­ing Pe­nal Rock Pres­by­ter­ian School will not be dressed in In­di­an at­tire to­day on the eve of Di­vali.

Sev­er­al par­ents were up­set yes­ter­day when the school in­formed them that the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion’s (MoE) school su­per­vi­sor had sent a memo in­di­cat­ing that the chil­dren were to at­tend school in their school uni­forms, dis­rupt­ing a plan for the chil­dren to dress in tra­di­tion­al East In­di­an cloth­ing to­day.

Many par­ents had al­ready bought out­fits for their chil­dren fol­low­ing a PTA meet­ing on Oc­to­ber 24, when the prin­ci­pal had in­di­cat­ed that the chil­dren could wear In­di­an at­tire to­day. Last year, stu­dents were al­lowed to at­tend school dressed in In­di­an at­tire with no com­pli­ca­tions.

A school of­fi­cial said the memo was sent to schools with­in the St Patrick dis­trict. Guardian Me­dia ob­tained a copy of the memo re­mind­ing prin­ci­pals and teach­ers that the min­istry’s pol­i­cy re­gard­ing pupils wear­ing school uni­forms for all school ac­tiv­i­ties re­mains in ef­fect.

“Any de­vi­a­tions re­quire that pupils en­ter the school com­pound in school uni­form, change in­to ap­pro­pri­ate at­tire for the event, and then change back in­to said school uni­form be­fore dis­missal and de­part­ing the school com­pound.”

The memo fur­ther stat­ed that prin­ci­pals are held ac­count­able for the phys­i­cal safe­ty of pupils and as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the min­istry, must en­sure ad­her­ence to es­tab­lished poli­cies, guide­lines and in­struc­tions.

Speak­ing on be­half of sev­er­al par­ents yes­ter­day, a spokesper­son who wished to re­main anony­mous ques­tioned why the memo was sent to on­ly cer­tain schools, as there were schools in oth­er ed­u­ca­tion­al dis­tricts that al­lowed stu­dents to dress in In­di­an at­tire.

“This is very strange and un­fair to our chil­dren. Many par­ents are very up­set and seek­ing clar­i­ty on this mat­ter.”

She said the school has more than 190 stu­dents and it doesn’t make sense for the chil­dren to come to school in their uni­forms, change in­to In­di­an at­tire and then change back in­to their uni­forms.

“The prin­ci­pal said that is an op­tion but oth­er is­sues can be raised with chil­dren chang­ing in the wash­room and nu­di­ty and doesn’t want to open an­oth­er can of worms, so the chil­dren will have to wear their uni­form to­mor­row.”

An of­fi­cial from the Ed­u­ca­tion Min­istry stat­ed that this pol­i­cy was noth­ing new and ap­plied to all school dis­tricts. The of­fi­cial said it was im­ple­ment­ed for se­cu­ri­ty and iden­ti­fi­ca­tion pur­pos­es.

The spokesper­son, how­ev­er, said the pol­i­cy may not be new but it is the first time that it was be­ing en­forced at their school.

“Some par­ents even ques­tion whether this is dis­crim­i­na­tion. They are say­ing that the chil­dren should wear their uni­form so they could be iden­ti­fied, this re­al­ly does not make sense,” she lament­ed.

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly could not be reached for com­ment on the is­sue yes­ter­day.