‘Rules are rules’ is precisely the problem

THE EDITOR, Madam:

We are calling on Education Minister Senator Dana Morris Dixon to reconsider her assertion that “rules are rules”, in light of her recent position that parents should not be required to purchase school uniforms directly from schools where such purchases are mandatory.

The minister’s statement creates an important contradiction. If “rules are rules”, as she stated on August 20 at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association Conference in Trelawny, then parents should likewise be expected to comply with school rules requiring them to purchase mandatory uniforms directly from the school. It is precisely this kind of unfairness that Fi We Children Foundation (FWCF) cautioned against when the minister made the statement.

FWCF maintains that rules cannot be treated as absolute when they are being used to enforce compliance, but discretionary when the rules themselves produce an outcome the ministry does not agree with.

It is for this reason that FWCF cautioned against the blanket assertion that “rules are rules” in relation to school grooming policies. Rules must also be fair, reasonable and transparent, and should not be blindly enforced where they are fundamentally unfair to those they are intended to serve. Some schools are requiring parents to purchase uniforms directly from their institutions, particularly where equivalent uniforms may be available elsewhere at a lower cost. This practice is manifestly unfair and fails to account for the financial realities facing families. A rule that places unnecessary financial burdens on parents should therefore be subject to scrutiny and review.

We reiterate our call for the Ministry of Education to establish clear, consistent and nationally applicable grooming and uniform guidelines, while placing appropriate limits on the discretion of school boards to impose grooming and uniform requirements.

We must move beyond the obsolete notion that “rules are rules” and instead ensure that school rules are reasonable, proportionate, transparent, and subject to due process for children and parents alike.

FI WE CHILDREN FOUNDATION

info@fiwechildren.org