Campuses’ ‘killer-dressers’




Students enjoy a lot of freedom and many have come to take it as a licence to misbehave. When it comes to dressing, many female students have gone weird. They wear skimpy dresses, exposing vital parts of their bodies. It is not that the men are better. They dress shabbily, provoking comments whether they are really students.

The reign of skimpy dresses has turned many campuses to fashion runway.

“Dress to kill” is now a popular slogan in lecture halls.

Worried by this trend, managements of higher institutions introduced dress codes. While some higher institutions may have succeeded in implementing the rules, others have not.

Besides, some students have been penalise by their authorities because what constitutes indecent dressing is not clearly spelt out. What is indecent dressing? Students differ on what constitutes this.

Ayomide Fatumbi, a 400-Level Mechanical Engineering student of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said: “Indecent dressing is an immodest and improper way of dressing that negates the code of dressing design by God. I dress the way I was brought up, and as students, I believe we should not only be taught how to read and write in schools, but also how to promote our culture and traditions in a decent way.”

Mode of dressing is way of expressing freedom, said Sope Oyeniyi, a Food Science and Engineering student of LAUTECH. She said: “Everyone is free to dress the way he or she likes without hindrance from anyone or authorities. Restricting the way one dresses is unwelcomed and unacceptable to humanity. It is our right to dress the way we want. No one should compel others to dress in a particular way but if authorities believe they are not satisfied with the way some of us dress, they can instruct the security men at the school gates to disallow whoever dresses shabbily into the campus.”

A lecturer at the Department of Local Government Studies, The Polytechnic Ibadan (IBADAN POLY), Mr Caleb Arulogun, said some dresses offend the ethics of the society. He noted that indecent dressing remained one of the causes of crisis in education sector.

Arulogun said: “Higher institutions are not secondary schools where there is uniformity in dressing. Anyone who is admitted into higher institution is believed to be mature and to be able to differentiate his right from left.” He added that parents needed to teach their children morals, while institutions must strengthen its rules against indecent lifestyle.

Olamide Sanusi, a final year student of Banking and Finance of IBADAN POLY, said there is a connection between dressing style and religious belief. “To me, I dress the way my parents do at home, and sometimes, it depends on the kind of friend people keep. Most students dress well at home, but when in school, they join bad company in ‘advertising’ their body,” she said.

To prevent students from dressing shabbily while they study, regulators of some professional disciplines such as law and medical science have introduced a regulated dress code. While law students put on white shirt and black trousers or long skirts, medical students wear white lab coat on any clothes they have on them.

Lawal Sulaiman, a 400-Level Mechanical Engineering student, LAUTECH, said: “Indecent dresses pose a danger for our society as we have witnessed many cases of rape and assaults of our female students. This type of dress promotes criminal acts.”

A parent, Mr Omolewa Yunus, said school managements must ensure culture and tradition are preserved on the campus, saying students’ background contributed to the indecency pervading campuses.

He said: “Most improper dresses start from home. Though some students change when they got admission but it should not be left only to the government and school authorities. I will support the implementation of dress codes for all students irrespective of their courses.”

Corroborating Yunus, Adedoyin Akorede, a 200-Level Medical Rehabilitation student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, said the dressing style of students showed the kind of upbringing they had, adding that peer pressure and environment also contributed to the indecency on campus.

“The way I dress most times speaks more of my upbringing. Though, there is pressure from friends on campus, but I can never bow to such ungodly dress of most female students put on,” she said.

0 Response to "Campuses’ ‘killer-dressers’"

Post a Comment