Parents and teachers have a week to weigh in on whether to ditch traditional school uniforms in favour of tracksuits, the Education Ministry said. 

One parent believes comfortable polo shirts and trousers, or divided skirts should be chosen, not a tracksuit to breed a generation of hoodies. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

A one-week consultation will begin on Monday after students gave their feedback earlier this year. 

Back in 2013, Education Minister Bartolo had launched a public consultation asking parents, students and teachers whether State school uniforms should remain as they were, be simplified or abolished.

Read: School uniforms should be mostly generic with a few distinctive features - report

Initial feedback had shown that parents were in favour of simplifying the uniforms, with some deeming them too costly.

A ministry spokeswoman told The Sunday Times of Malta that students at both primary and secondary government schools had been asked whether they would prefer to stick with the traditional school uniform of blazer, shirt and tie, or ditch it in favour of a sporty tracksuit. 

Some 1,600 middle and secondary school students from 21 schools took part – 91% said they would prefer a tracksuit. Just five per cent said they would prefer to stick with the traditional get-up and the remaining four per cent wanted neither. 

The authorities also held focus groups, each with 10 to 30 primary school students, mostly made up of the peer-elected student council representatives from 20 schools. Some 85% preferred the sporty option over 15% who wanted to keep wearing formal attire. 

The next step, the spokeswoman said, would be to have parents and educators weigh in. On Monday morning, parents will be sent an SMS and educators will be sent a link via e-mail taking them to a voting page.

The more comfortable they are, the happier students will be

“A while back we asked parents whether they preferred ditching uniforms entirely, and they were understandably in favour of retaining them. Now we are taking the next step and seeing what sort of uniform this should be,” the spokesperson said. 

Read: Right dress code for schools

If parents and teachers back the students’ choice the next step would be to decide whether to introduce one tracksuit for all schools or if each school should have their own colours and design.

Back in 2017 Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had tested the waters on his Facebook profile page. He shared an article published about the Children’s Commissioner’s proposal for uniforms to be comfortable, practical and flexible. The minister said several parents had suggested their children wear an official tracksuit to school rather than the current uniform.

“What do you think?” Mr Bartolo asked his Facebook followers.

In just a few hours, the minister’s post garnered 1,200 reactions. The majority gave their blessing, with some saying that the more comfortable they were, the happier students would be. With a tie and a blazer, students looked like they were heading to Parliament, not to school, one social media user had commented.

However, others pointed out that wearing a uniform in school instilled in children a sense of discipline, preparing them for adulthood.

One parent protested: “If we want our children to be in comfortable clothes, why a tracksuit? To breed a generation of hoodies? We can find a compromise… comfortable polo shirts and trousers, or divided skirts.”

Read: Is it time for school uniforms to go?