A vendor was criticised last week by her friends for finding fault with the school rule which compels her daughter to wear her uniform several inches below the knee.

"The long uniform my daughter has to wear to school just don't look good on her and the schools need to stop turning them into old women," she complained.

The woman's friend, who was sitting nearby selling fruits, told her she sounded "stupid".

In response she said, "Very sensible, I don't want to see my daughter going to school looking like an old woman, and that is how the uniform looks on her."

Another woman pointed out that it was better the schoolgirls looked like old women than to go about exposing themselves in public. She went on to explain that last year she witnessed an incident where two schoolgirls were actually engaged in a dancing contest on a minibus. "You should see the disgusting way in which they were carrying on in their school uniform which was above the knee. I am sure if they were wearing the old women uniform they would not be behaving in that fashion," she said.

A man who was sitting nearby remarked, "Many parents are responsible for the destruction of their children because they do not encourage them to obey the school rules."

'You are so right, instead of criticising the uniform, she should be telling her child to study her books to get out of hard life," one of the women said.

The man said he saw nothing wrong with the school rules and chided the parent for criticising the institution regulations. "When the children become adults, they can dress how they like, but as long as they are students, they must obey the school rules. No wonder there is so much crime and violence in the country; it stems from the parents who do not enforce rules in the homes and from those who find fault with the school rules," he added.

"It is not that I was finding fault with the school rule, I was just saying that the long uniform did not look good on my daughter," the vendor explained.

"Well, my dear, be grateful that your child is going to school and make sure your child behaves herself and obey the school rules," one of her friends commented.

There have been numerous complaints about some of the school rules. It must be noted that rules should be obeyed as long as they are not oppressive or in breach of the Constitution. When rules are in clear breaches of the Constitution, they can be challenged in court.