AFRICA EDUCATION

INSIDE UGANDAN SCHOOL WHERE BOYS WEAR SKIRTS

INSIDE UGANDAN SCHOOL WHERE BOYS WEAR SKIRTS
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Faith Nyasuguta 

In Africa, most of us are used to seeing high school boys wearing trousers and shirts as uniforms. However, there is a school in Uganda, Nyakasura Secondary School, where boys wear skirts. 

Currently, Nyakasura is the only school in Uganda and perhaps Africa where male students wear kilts as their school uniform. While giving the school’s history, the principal revealed that they are just carrying on with what the founder started. 

Male students at Nyakasura Secondary School /Image, Facebook/

According to the principal, the school was started in 1926 by a Scottish missionary Lieutenant-Commander Ernest William Eborhard Calwell. 

The missionary wanted the entire Buganda Kingdom to ape the Scottish culture, but the king refused, forcing him to flee the place. He was, however, welcomed in Nyakasura where he set-up a school and influenced the people to practise Scottish culture.

“The attire builds confidence in boys hence brings out strong leaders; therefore, it has a unique identity,” the principal said.

ORIGIN OF KILTS

/Image, Facebook/

The principal defended the uniform by saying that it is not a skirt like other people called it, claiming that it is called kilts and it is a traditional attire worn by men in Scottish Highlands. 

Kilt form the only national costume in the British Isles that is worn for ordinary purposes, rather than merely for a special occasion. 

The highland dress doubles as the uniform of Scottish regiments in the British army, and kilts have been worn in battle, even World War II. 

Despite mockery by the community, the principal said the students love their uniforms so much as it makes them unique.

MALE LEARNERS UNASHAMED 

/Image, Facebook/

According to the students, the kilt is part of the school culture, and they are comfortable with it. 

The boys disclosed that they are often insulted and criticised by students from other schools for wearing girls’ uniform, but to them, there is nothing wrong with the attire. 

“Some people say that it is a shame to wear a skirt, but this is not a skirt and I also don’t have a problem with it because I have been wearing it for four years now,” one of the students mentioned. 

Apart from standing out among other schools with their dressing, Nyakasura is also known for performing well in national examinations, and it has several trophies in co- curricular activities. 

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Faith Nyasuguta

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