We like it if students wear baju kurung` DPM: It is an attire for

`We like it if students
wear baju kurung'
DPM: It is an attire for schoolgirls of all races
KUALA LUMPUR: The wearing of
baju kurung to school is in no way
restricted and in fact, encouraged,
says Education Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin.
"Baju kurung is a national costume and its use should be encouraged among all schoolgirls, regardless of race," he said.
Muhyiddin was commenting on
a report that a non-Muslim student
at SMK Seri Mutiara in Cheras here
was barred from entering her class
and ordered to go home because she
wore a baju kurung.
Muhyiddin said the school, which
claimed that the student was going
against the school's dress code, was
making its own rules.
"All schools should refrain from
making their own regulations, especially if they are not in accordance
with ministry guidelines," he said.
In Petaling Jaya, Deputy
Education Minister P. Kamalanathan
clarified that it was not the school
headmaster who barred the student
from entering her class.
"I was told that it was done by
one of the teachers and we will find
out why and how it happened," he
added.
MCA Youth chairman Chong Sin
Woon said the disciplinary action
against the Form Three student
would deprive her of her education.
In a statement yesterday, he said
denying students of their right was
contradictory to the educationists'
role.
He also said that wearing traditional costume of other races would
"enhance inter-ethnic respect and
appreciation".
Separately, Bernama yesterday
reported that the school principal,
Mohd Amir Abdul Ghani, said it was
a case of "miscommunication and
misinterpretation of information by
students and parents".
The principal said the school
never prohibited any non-Muslim
female student from wearing the
baju kurung, but only emphasised
that the attire had to be correctly
worn.
"If they want to wear the baju
kurung, the students have to wear
them properly, which means buttoning up all the way. When we tell
them this, they say we (the school)
do not allow them to wear the baju
kurung," he said.
Mohd Amir said a discussion
was held among the principal, the
parent-teacher association and the
guardian of the student concerned
(complainant) yesterday to resolve
the issue.
He stressed that the student concerned would return to school and
was free to wear the baju kurung.
Mohd Amir said he was not in
school on the day of the incident.
Had he been there, he believed
the incident would not have happened and gone viral on social
media.
Examples of what female students
can wear to school
An Education Ministry circular makes it clear the uniforms which students
can wear to school. In a circular issued by the ministry in 1993, it stated that
schools didn't have the authority to enforce their own uniform code on
students.
Under the circular, the uniform options for both male and female
students in primary and secondary schools are clearly explained. The
circular states that in secondary school, the uniform options for female
students are pinafore and blouse, baju kurung moden and baju kurung and
kain sarung.
Baju kurung and
kain sarung
Source: Education Ministry
Baju kurung
moden
Pinafore and
blouse