A high school in Kuwait has gone under fire this week after the mother of a student went public with the institution's maltreatment of her daughter.
Speaking to Al Rai newspaper, the mother explained how officials at the school ripped her daughter's uniform after they deemed it "too short," though the 11th grader was wearing a regular dress uniform.
The infuriated parent added that school officials not only tore the uniform but also sent the student back home. They have also barred her from entering the school premises since last Thursday and refused to let her sit for an exam she was supposed to take this week.
"If the school accepts this on their students, I don't accept that my daughter is subjected to it. They should've at least notified me before acting like this. Though I don't see why they took such measures, the uniform is ordinary and I don't think there are any laws that force students to wear long dresses or the hijab," the parent told the newspaper.
The mother contacted the school's administration to discuss the matter but got into a heated argument with its members.
"It seems like they want to force a long uniform and the hijab on my daughter even though there isn't any ministerial law stating that girls should be forced to dress like this," she explained.
The woman called on the country's minister of education Dr. Hamed Al Azemi and his delegate Dr. Saud Al Harbi to end the unacceptable attack on her daughter, requesting they enroll the student back in school to avoid affecting her education.
"If what the mother is saying is true, then we absolutely condemn the school's actions and kindly ask the parent to file a complaint on the matter," the head of educational matters at the ministry, Shukriyah Al Saeedi, said.
"The right thing to do in a situation like this is to inform a parent that their daughter's uniform is too short or inappropriate for school," she added.
The case drew polarized reactions from people on Twitter, with a bunch believing the student deserved this treatment because she chose to wear a "revealing garment."
"Thank you to this school administration," one tweep wrote, while another said the institution should force the student to wear an abaya (floor-length garment) for the rest of the school year.
However, shaming a young student for wearing a uniform deemed too short without detailed official dress codes to follow didn't go down too well with many. Some hit back at those condoning such behavior at a school, while others called out the institution for interfering with the student's personal freedom.
"Excuse me, where are we living? What kind of behavior is this? No one has the right to tear up the girl's dress. She has parents, they can talk to them if they have concerns," an online user tweeted.
