Dress Code In Tertiary Institutions

While the issue of indecent dressing continues to be of great concern to society at large, many look on helplessly as the Youth, particularly students in our tertiary educational institutions continue to flout all rules of decency in the name of modernity and fashion.

Some years back, some Private Universities in Accra introduced dress codes for their students with the aim of ensuring that they dress decently on campus. Some human rights activists have also expressed concern that such codes infringe on the rights of the students.

Dresses are getting more abbreviated, tighter, more transparent and generally more revealing. Necklines are getting lower, blouses are getting smaller and waistlines of trousers are getting lower by the day. In short, clothes worn by our youth, particularly females are getting more daring with some bordering on the provocative.

Clothes that would have raised eyebrows a few years ago are today seen as the norm. Unfortunately, many of our young ladies have discarded the known traditional ways of dressing for the more liberal, but often less decent Western style of dressing. There seems to be no shame at all about revealing body parts in ways that cause embarrassment to onlookers. It is not uncommon to see a lady's waist beads or underpants freely showing above the waistline of her trousers as she walks by. There may be an added treat to the onlooker as the upper half of her breasts are openly displayed through the very low neckline of her blouse.

The sad aspect is that many of such ladies walk by completely oblivious of the shock on the faces of some onlookers. While a number of people seem to have gotten used to these clothes due to regular exposure, many others are still at pains to overcome their embarrassment any time they are faced with such uncomfortable spectacle. While some levels of indecency could be overlooked, others are outright vulgar and meet with adverse comments.

It is sad to say that some parents actively condone the indecency by buying these less-than-decent clothes for their children in a bid to satisfy their desire to be trendy. These worrisome clothes have gained so much acceptability in our society that many traders find it profitable to import them for sale on the local market. To give a further boost to their patronage, there is a ready supply of cheaper versions of the more expensive ones worn by known celebrities of the Western world with whom the youth are proud to be identified. T shirts with provocative and sexually suggestive inscriptions add to the range of indecent apparel that our youth embrace with relish.

The young men are not left out as there seems to be a competition among them to see who succeeds in pushing the waistline of their trousers as far below their mid section as possible. The resulting awkward movement can be very irritating to the decency prone onlooker who sees the whole spectacle as an exercise in vulgarity. Sometimes, the above scenario is worsened by the wearing of earrings by these young men who are willing to do anything in the same of fashion.

It is however, gratifying to note that young men are wearing their hair more decent now than they did a few years ago. The rather weird hair cuts seem to have disappeared from our streets and tertiary institutions.

While addressing concerns about the indecency in dressing, it will be helpful to identify some of the causes in order to address this socially disturbing phenomenon. One thing that readily comes to mind is the entertainment sector.

The numerous sponsored entertainment packages that target the Youth seem to fuel this indecency in dressing. Designers are encouraged to showcase their clothes at such events and many of them go for the less-than-decent designs which seem to have wider acceptability among the target group. Moreover, spectators at such functions appear determined to outdo each other in terms of indecent dressing which seems to be the generally accepted dress code for those events.

Moreover, some popular telenovela series shown on our television screens promote the indecency in no small way. Many of the characters in those series are excellent examples of what constitutes indecency in dressing as they proudly showcase their very revealing clothes. The unfortunate effect on our youth is the desire to identify with those characters.

Besides imitating their clothes, some go to the extent of walking and talking like them. To complete the picture, our local musicians have joined the fray in promoting outright vulgar clothes and dances in their promotional video clips which feature beautiful young ladies in unacceptably abbreviated skirts and shorts, with body hugging blouses. If the clothes in these videos are bad, the dances that go with them are better seen than described.

In their bid to appear trendy and gain acceptability among their peers, many of our youth tend to go in for these clothes and the result is the very disturbing spectacle that we see in our tertiary educational institutions. The attendant immorality is another subject altogether. The unfortunate aspect is that even our Christian tertiary educational institutions have been carried along in this wave of indecent exposure in the name of fashion.

In a bid to find a lasting solution to the ever increasing menace posed to the future of our society by such indecency in clothing, it good that we differentiate between fashion and dressing. For those who may argue about the dictates of modern fashion, it will be helpful to know what an expert in the fashion industry thinks about the growing indecency.

According to a report that appeared in the Sunday Times of Zambia in 2005, Nokia face of Africa principal judge, Ms Andiswa Manxiwa, described the increase in incidences of harassment of women who are deemed to be improperly dressed as unfortunate and could be avoided. She blamed the victims for making themselves susceptible to these men who become offended by their way of dressing for exposing parts of their bodies which should be covered. She said young women especially were failing to draw a line between fashion and dressing .Ms Manxiwa a fashion model herself argued vehemently that indecent exposure is not fashion at all there is need for respect among the Youth.

'Girls need to dress up decently nowadays if they have to command respect from society what they have to be mindful of is that they are the future leaders of tomorrow.'

A lot of talk has gone on about the growing dress challenge in our tertiary educational institutions, but there is the need to stop further degeneration by taking steps to ensure that students in these institutions dress in a manner that is more widely acceptable. For a start it will be helpful to have an unambiguous definition of what constitutes indecent dressing in order to define the rules.

Certainly, clothes that expose underpants, waist beads, breasts, belly buttons and thighs cannot fall in the category of decency. In addition T shirts with inscriptions other than names of identifiable non political groups could be considered for exclusion. The issue of dress code need not put everybody in the same uniform, but the boundaries must clearly be defined in terms of what is acceptable as opposed to what is not.

Decency must be the guiding principle. Indecent and provocative exposure is clearly not acceptable and must be discouraged in our tertiary educational institutions. A well covered, decently dressed and well groomed youth gives a sense of future security particularly to the older generation.

The Youth, particularly students in our tertiary educational institutions must be guided by the fact that decent dressing inspires one's confidence especially in public. On the other hand, indecency in dressing undermines one's self confidence, giving rise to unnecessary suspicion and fear even when people mean well.

Indecent dressing of late has become a real problem not only among students and youth but the society in general.

The Catholic Church is against indecent dressing and posture because they are more or less avenues for sin. In typical Catholic Schools, students dress decently with the girls dressing to cover up the body with a belt to match.

Generally, uniforms give identity to organisations or corporate bodies, but the danger is if uniforms are prescribed for students and the sewing are not well defined, the students would sew any style they want.

Girls, who dress indecently, allow themselves to be misconstrued by men as cheap. After University education, if they become lecturers, they may not be able to be role models.

Adults should not be afraid but gather the moral courage to correct young men and women who expose themselves improperly. This will help create a morally upright society. Decent dressing is covering yourself well enough with your under and outer garments, in order not to attract attention.

But looking at the way students dress in our institutions nowadays, we need to enforce proper codes of dressing before indecent dressing becomes a norm.

A dress code can be prescribed but tertiary students should be spared wearing uniforms, they should be able to decide for themselves what is appropriate dressing.

In the Catholic Tertiary Institutions, there are dress codes which always draw the attention of those who stray.

Parents, lecturers, and peers should influence the youth to dress decently while the media also plays its major role in the campaign against indecent dressing.

I believe students should be advised to dress decently to reveal their personality.

In the olden days, serious minded ladies dressed very simply, concentrated on their studies and had no time to dress indecently. As far as dressing is concerned, students must learn how to dress simply, decently and modestly without exposing parts of the body.

Some People are of the opinion that though regulations of Universities outline how decent students should dress, prescribed dresses should be left out to them because at the University there is academic freedom.

Expensive dresses cost money and monies spent on dresses could have been used for books or something more beneficial.

There are professional Counsellors who advise students on general behaviour including decent dressing and it is left to the students to know that they are training themselves if they abide by good counsel.

I must say that some students dress to distract attention of lecturers and their colleagues but lecturers should be focused, have self control, try not to be too free with students of the opposite sex and concentrate during lectures.

Mrs. Lucy Peprah Tawiah, a former Principal of a Teacher Training College in Ghana as well President of the Catholic Twins Society says, 'I think the idea of introducing a dress code in our Tertiary institution should not be seen as a punitive but a corrective measure.'

Many of the students in our tertiary institutions are very young that there is the need to instill in them some moral values. The tertiary institution is a higher academic centre and University authorities must get the students to develop some decent dressing code for themselves on campus.

Personally, I do not see anything wrong when students are asked not to put on certain style of dresses because tertiary institutions are also to train students to live decent lives.

Ladies for example must stop wearing dresses, which expose sensitive parts of their bodies and concentrate on their books.

I think also that the Alumni, SRC, parents and lecturers of tertiary institutions should come together to think of the pros and cons of the issue of decent dressing to safeguard the interest of those who are to lead the nation in the future.

Many Ghanaians do not subscribe to uniform for Tertiary Institutions, this is because at a certain stage in life, the person should be allowed to mould his or her conscience, to decide between good and bad.

The moral comes out of the spiritual. If someone is morally upright, it means the one has subjected his or her life to the spirit of God. Anyone who dresses indecently can be said to have a spiritual problem and should be helped.

Parents should let their children be grounded in the faith and take them through proper tutelage before they reach the tertiary level.

Girls who dress indecently only attract indecent boys and vice versa. Some dress to attract the attention of lecturers to get favours without working hard and this leads to immorality and it is demonic and unacceptable.

Lecturers in their first introductory lectures for fresh students should let students know their stand on dressing, to prevent them from dressing indecently to lectures.

A man will always want to marry a decent woman, not a flirt, so students should dress well knowing that their future relationship, marriage or employment is at stake.

Appearance is an essential tool for every human being and personal appearance is one of the seven facets of body language, for example facial expression, eye contact and postures.

I think there is a lot to be said against some of the dresses young adults put on these days.

Most of our young girls do not know how to dress appropriately and therefore wear dresses meant for the beach or for entertainment, to Church or lecture.

The crux of the matter is that what students put on attract attention and have influence on others, so there should be discipline in dressing.

Almost all the professionals have prescribed uniforms and there should be a strong decision in our schools for a prescribed style of dressing for all students.

We are now fortunate to have many Private Universities in the country apart from the public ones therefore; students who cannot abide by the rules of a particular University have an option.

Some also think a dress Code may be defined as a set of rules established by an institution or a group of people regarding what type of clothes to wear, how to wear them and on what occasion to wear them.

Prescribing a dress code therefore, is not new. What is new, however, is the reference to University students in Ghana this year. University students are anything of human value and make a choice.

It is expected that such choices are made taking into consideration all the pros and cons. It is, therefore, generally believed that a University student's choice of clothes he or she wears and general conduct would have been decent and generally accepted to the society in which he or she lives.

That the society holds university students in high esteem is as true as a day light. They are seen as role models for the younger students at the first and second cycle educational levels. Therefore, any life style or conduct of university students can easily be copied by them.

Some students wear clothes that expose their vital parts such as the tummy, waistline, breast and even their underwear to classes or at public functions on campus.

This is regrettable because this kind of dressing sends the wrong signals about them and makes people label them as immoral, indiscipline and prostitutes which may not be entirely true of them.

Will dress codes be the answer? Yes and No. Yes because it can instill the fear of being sacked from the university in the students, and make them dress in a more descent and acceptable way.

On the other hand, the answer is No because that may infringe on the students' rights to choose what to wear. However, if the right to choose what to wear is offensive to societal norms and acceptable behaviour, then there must be a compromise.

The compromise should be, the University authorities considering the students as adults and open up a dialogue with their representatives to come to agreement regarding not only dress codes but also codes of general conduct.