School barred our wearing other cultures’ traditional attire, says student

FMT:

School barred our wearing other cultures’ traditional attire, says student

Klang Valley school also said to have told Indian students not to wear sarees to the Merdeka event and to remove their holy thread.

20 Sep 2023

Wearing traditional attire has become synonymous with Merdeka celebrations in schools across the country. (Bernama pic)


PETALING JAYA: Wearing traditional attire may be synonymous with Merdeka celebrations in schools, but a student has claimed her school barred its students from wearing the traditional clothes of cultures which were not their own.

Speaking to FMT, the student, who only wanted to be known as Susan, also said the Klang Valley school did not allow its Indian students to wear sarees to the event.

“Chinese students were only allowed to wear the cheongsam or hanfu. Even more concerning, Indian students were denied the opportunity to wear sarees.

“Students who wore sarees were instructed by the discipline teacher to list their names on a sheet of paper titled ‘names of students who flouted the dress code’.

“These names will be recorded in the ‘Sistem Sahsiah Diri Murid’ (students’ personal records or SSDM), which could potentially impact the students’ future,” she said.

Susan said her name was also recorded in the SSDM for an alleged dress code violation.

She also said the headmistress has yet to address the matter at any school assembly following the event which was intended to “foster unity”.

Screenshots of the school’s parent-teacher WhatsApp group, sighted by FMT, revealed that unhappy parents have been seeking an explanation from the teachers.

Susan also claimed that Indian students wearing the holy thread were told to remove them from their wrists.

“On one occasion, the discipline teacher told the prefects to tell students wearing the holy thread to get a letter if they want to wear it.”

FMT has reached out to the school and education ministry for comment.