Ramadan: Furore As Security Bar Female Students From Lectures Over  Alleged Improper Dressing At Kaduna Polytechnic

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The authorities of the Kaduna Polytechnic have assured that a thorough investigation will be launched to ascertain the actual circumstances surrounding the alleged harassment and intimidation of some students of the institution by security personnel over alleged “indecent dressing.”

The Source reports that many female  students were prevented by the institution’s internal security personnel from accessing the Polytechnic for what they considered as  “tempting dressing” during the ongoing Muslim Ramadan period.

A viral video in circulation shows many female students being refused entry into the school for academic activities on the grounds that their dressing offends and tempts those observing Ramadan.

However ,the affected students , insisted that there was nothing indecent in their dressing as they were dressed in the normal way they had been dressing to attend lectures before now.

“But this time,they (security personnel) are saying that because they are fasting, we should be covering all our bodies with long clothes.

” Do they want us to wear cardigans in this scorching hot weather? We are not Secondary School students”, a student stated in the video.

According to the students ,the security personnel insisted that now that they are fasting, the female students should be wearing dresses  with long sleeves, capable of covering their whole body.

A statement from the Polytechnic’s spokesperson Godwin Ayegba, however, noted that the dressing code of the female students shown in the video appears  to be  moderate and appropriate by the institution’s standard.

This is as he distanced the authorities of the Polytechnic from the alleged overreach of the security personnel.

“The Management wishes to state clearly that the dresses worn by the affected students ,as shown in the viral video,appear moderate and appropriate.

“In view of this, the students in question ought not to have been barred from their lectures on this basis” Ayegba noted.

The Management further emphasized that while the institution as a matter of policy maintains a dress code policy aimed at promoting decency, professionalism and a general conducive learning environment, it however insisted that enforcement must be carried out strictly in tandem with extant rules and regulations.

The authorities cautioned against the tendency to enforce the dress code policy in a manner suggesting extremism and or arbitrariness.

The Management in the statement , assured that appropriate measures will be taken after diligent investigation to address the situation, with a view to forestall a future occurrence .