Focus on nurturing talents, not imposing dress codes, varsities told

 

The Higher Education Ministry and universities should focus on improving education quality and nurturing talents instead of imposing restrictive dress codes, a DAP lawmaker said.

Tanah Rata assemblyperson Ho Chi Yang said such dress codes may hamper creativity and critical thinking, and universities should instead concentrate on producing students who dare question, criticise, and innovate.

“A university should be an educational institute that accepts and embraces different views, thoughts, and behaviours in order to encourage students to always question and think critically.

“When a university implements a strict dress code, it does not merely trample on students’ freedom to dress but also, directly or indirectly, suppresses students’ creativity.

“In the long run, such a restriction only hinders the development of Malaysian higher education, which will be based very much on students’ and academics’ creativity and courage to challenge existing thinking,” Ho (above), who is DAP Youth varsity affairs bureau director, said in a statement today.

He brought up incidents where students were fined by the Universiti of Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) management for dyeing their hair or wearing too many earrings while Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) also issued a notice requiring all students to wear leather shoes and male students to wear neckties during examinations.

Ho said even at the national level, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and many ministers have chosen not to wear neckties while Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul has said MPs are no longer required to wear ties during parliamentary sittings.

“Therefore, both the legislative and the executive branches have demonstrated a strong will of serving people and developing the country instead of adhering to unnecessary formalities,” he said.

All government agencies and universities should follow in the government’s footsteps by embracing progressive values, including respecting students’ freedom to dress, he urged.

“An open and progressive society should not impose values or subjective moral judgement on others.

“I call upon all universities to follow in the footsteps of the cabinet and Parliament by relaxing their dress codes and not issuing fines to students,” he said.

At the same time, Ho also urged the government to issue clear directives to all government agencies that their top priority should be assisting the public instead of policing people’s clothing.

He cited the incident at the Kajang district police headquarters on Jan 30, where a woman went to lodge a police report about a traffic accident but was turned away because she was wearing shorts.

Inspector-general of police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani has since described the incident as a “misunderstanding”. - Mkini