Teen Boys Wear Skirts to School to Protest Ban on Shorts
A group of schoolboys have decided to protest an administrative ban on short by wearing skirts to class.
A heatwave currently washing over the UK has already claimed the lives of hundreds.
Naturally, the Year 10 boys at Whitchurch High School in Cardiff sought to trade in their school-mandated trousers for something a bit more weather-appropriate.
"Over the last few days I’ve had a few headaches and skin irritations because I’ve been too hot," said 15-year-old Tyrone Evelyn. "Girls can wear skirts, so I don’t see why we can’t wear shorts."
To protest the ban, Evelyn and 16 of his friends decided to turn the tables on school officials by taking advantage of a loophole in the uniform code — and wearing skirts themselves.
To avoid having the protest shut down before it started, the boy brought the skirts with them to school in secret.
Then, during a break, they snuck into the restroom and changed.
Taking to the school's corridors, Evelyn and the rest of the skirt-wearing seventeen marched up and down, chanting "we want to wear shorts."
Eventually they were called into the headmaster's office and told to switch back to trousers or risk disciplinary action.
They were left with no choice but to comply.
But the boys' protest is far from over: The next phase involves penning a strongly worded letter to the student council in hopes of revising the uniform policy by next summer.
"People have obviously indicated that they would want to wear shorts," headteacher Huw Jones-Williams told the Wales News Service. "We are always keen to listen to our students."
For now, the "strict uniform policy" will be enforced, but Jones-Williams said he will "monitor the weather conditions" to ensure students aren't overheating.
Male train driver in Sweden engaged in a similar act of defiance last month after their employer banned the wearing of shorts. Arriva eventually caved in and lifted the ban, thanks in large part to public outcry online.
