As part of moves at ensuring that students dress decently on campus, authorities at Bugema University in Uganda have restricted female students from wearing miniskirts, lipsticks, earrings, and makeup when the next semester begins.
According to a directive from the management of the university, the above items and others such as sleeveless and open tops, coloured nail varnish, trousers and dresses above the knee line have all been banned.
“No student should come back with the above mentioned next semester. Culprits will face university disciplinary committee for serious action,” an excerpt of the notice, dated December 12, 2018, read.
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“We have been taking these students through these rules, especially during their orientations but to our disappointment, some of them end up falling culprits of indecent dressing,” the university dean of students, George Mupaghasi told Ugandan media, New Vision in an interview.
The ban on the aforementioned items affects borders and day students, and its implementation started on Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Per the rules of the school, students are also entitled to give management prior notice before going anywhere.
“We have done this because in case any of our students get a problem along the way, we are held accountable so, we need to protect them as we reserve the positive image of the institution as well,”
“We need these students to dress in a respectful manner as stipulated in our university handbook” he added.
Bugema University began as a training school for teachers and pastors for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1948. It later changed its name from Bugema Missionary Training School to Bugema Missionary College and subsequently to Bugema Adventist College.
In 1976, the institution applied to offer Theology degrees but the Ministry of education and sports, and the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist, cleared the college to start offering bachelor’s degrees in different disciplines, said the New Vision. The institution is now called Bugema University.
In some universities in Africa, concerns over indecent dressing have triggered dress codes.
School authorities have usually been compelled to adopt dress codes for students or update the current form of clothing due to some cultural and moral values, as well as, academic and safety reasons.
In 2017,
For most universities, the move is to protect mostly female students from harassment and sexual violence.
Critics, however, argue that such dress code policies are a violation of their human rights and freedoms and have wondered the kind of correlation between dress and sexual harassment, or academic performance.
According to the University World News, a research paper from Uganda it cited that dealt with sexual harassment in medical schools recommends that administrators promote decent dressing of female students “to avoid luring males into sexual feeling and behaviours. Institutions should design decent uniforms for medical students where need be”.
Yet, most students across many African universities would have none of the above and would continue to raise issues as to why school authorities have made dress codes a major concern.
Here’s how people are reacting to the development from Bugema University:
It's always the girl child intimidation. Like seriously these Christian institutions are too canal I don't even get what they preach in their chapels.
— 22Capricons?? (@annette_muhindo) December 20, 2018
Wonder how this makes someone a better student.
— seguya Henry (@SeguyaHenry) December 20, 2018
It’s targeting female students and that makes it cultic and absolutely outrageous
— Ongu Isaac (@onguisaac) December 20, 2018
Is it a secondary school?
— JALIAH MAYALI (@JaliahMayali) December 20, 2018
We who teach the students love them like that they make u feel young again
— ntambi joseph Paul (@ntambipaul1) December 20, 2018
May be mini skirts but the rest looks to be wrongly thought of, the university is a free world unless they want it to be a secondary school
— lukanga gerald (@lukagero) December 20, 2018
Such restrictions actually urge the students to do exactly what is being restricted. Now,bangles for example…Bugema is such a joke…
— Laura mirembe (@MirembeLaura) December 20, 2018
This business of curtailing adults’ freedom should cease…these women may literally be left with no option but to wear gomesis.
— Pheobe Birara (@BiraraPheobe) December 20, 2018
Dictatorship.
— Michael Baki Winston (@MichaelBakii) December 20, 2018
Those affected have other options. What’s the correlation between learning and exposing body parts. Then you’ll blame humans for getting attracted & then sex-for-marks
— Mwambu MFred (@mfred_mfred) December 20, 2018
Not. Every community has the right to set up its own rules as regressive as they may seem. The great thing about life these days is we have options.
— linda mujja (@LMujja) December 20, 2018
