The Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB)’s recent decree asking all private higher secondary colleges to implement a dress code has received a lot of flak, mainly from the students of such institutions. Students of St. Xavier’s, a reputed private college in Nepal, have already staged a sit in at HSEB to protest this move. Their reasoning, that St. Xavier’s has been producing excellent scholars without implementing a dress code, is valid.
The purported reason for the ban is that it will help curb students’ “bunking”, since students in school uniforms can be easily identified. Even though this edict may have been issued with the best intentions, it is misdirected. While students will easily find ways to adapt to the dress code, the rule shifts the focus and energy from the real issues that HSEB should be addressing: changing the syllabi to keep up with the times, improving the quality of teachers by providing teacher training, and monitoring fee structure and infrastructure of schools.
Four months ago, HSEB had banned mobile phones, miniskirts, and motorbikes in higher secondary schools. Recently, Higher Secondary School Association (HISAN) took the ban one step further. In collaboration with HSEB, this organization has asked the District Traffic Police to take disciplinary action on students found to be driving on the streets.
Ostensibly, this move is supposed to prevent accidents among students, but while these institutions are allowed to implement whatever disciplinary rules they want in their institutions, to bar students from using a public road is not under their jurisdiction. The state sets the minimum driving age. If schools really want students to stop driving, they should lobby for a permanent rise in the driving age, not curtail an individual’s freedom by blocking their access to public facilities.
Last year, HSEB had assigned a taskforce to study private higher secondary college and make suggestions. The taskforce came up with admirable recommendations such as barring these institutions from putting in jacket advertisements on newspapers, barring use of celebrities like the president or the prime minister, or the names and photos of students in their advertisements, and asking each school to provide justifications for its scholarship programs to ensure that the money goes to needy students. HSEB has since issued directives regarding the same, and found many schools flouting these directives.
It has not gone further in controlling such rampant malpractices. HSEB is not likely to make progress on improving quality of education by focusing on appearances instead of on these pressing issues. Furthermore, government institutions are exempt from these rules, raising the question of why HSEB thinks only students from private colleges need to be disciplined. Each school has its own learning environment and school culture. Some use strict discipline and monitoring, including that of uniforms, mobile phones, and bags, to get excellent results and inspire confidence from parents. Others, like St. Xavier’s, get there without obvious dress codes and restriction on communication. It is better to let each school design its own disciplinary measures, as long as none flouts the law. HSEB needs to set its priorities right.
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