The steps taken by some principals at several high schools this week to ensure that the students obey the school rules have been the subject of discussion by some students and parents.

Although some students were turned away from school to conform with the rules, the principals are being commended for the action taken.

One parent said he was very happy with the decision, because children must know that they are not in charge.

"I would like to see all the schools enforcing the rules, because the way some children are dressed when going to school would give the appearance that they are going to the dancehall," he remarked.

The following conversation took place between two women over the issue.

"My boy listens to nothing I tell him, he even leaves the house wearing earrings and tight-foot trousers," one of the women said.

"I am tired of talking to the boy, telling him to stop wear the earrings to school, but he pays me no mind. I bought his uniforms, but he took them to a tailor to get them altered the way he wanted. Well, I really jumped for joy when I saw him coming home complaining that he was sent home. When I asked him why, he barely grumbled that the 'stupid people' said his trousers were too tight and he should get them fixed. He took them back to the tailor who had altered them and the next day he went out looking like a schoolboy," she said.

"So how old is your boy?" the other woman asked.

"He is 13 years and has no manners, but he does his schoolwork," the mother replied.

The other woman began to outline the problems she was having with her 14-year-old daughter and began by saying that the other woman's problems were not very serious as they could be resolved by the discipline his school was enforcing.

"My problem is that my 14-year-old daughter does not like to study her lessons and is not performing at school, because her grades are very low. She is always pretending that she is sick, because she does not want to attend school.

"The schools should have been enforcing the rules long ago, because the first time my daughter wore a short skirt to school, she was sent home. It happened two years ago and, since then, she never wears another short skirt to school. The children at her school know that they must come to school properly dressed because they are going to be sent home.

"Yes, I am one person who is very proud of the principals for the actions they are taking to have discipline at the schools. The children will know that it is either they obey or stay out, because they don't run things," she said.

Some children expressed the views that some of the school rules were too strict. One boy even remarked that one of his classmates was a Rastafarian and the principal did not tell him to cut his hair. "So I don't see why we should be penalised for wearing tight trousers, because that is just style," he said.

The Constitution guarantees a person freedom of religion, so the school rules will not affect the Rastafarian student who does not cut his hair because of his religion.