Dressing Codes in Major Varsities

By Victor Baraka

Most people believe that what you wear is majorly based on what you have or feel like dressing in. Well, you would wonder why some higher learning institutions put out dress codes for students. Some would argue that they do it as they are driven by cultural norms that perpetuate dressing as a show of your morality.

Most of young people especially those in universities dress according to what is trending or as they like to call it fashion. And you would ask yourself what is fashion? The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as a style of clothing, hair, decoration or behaviour.

The fashion involves having dreadlocks, girls putting on wigs or plaiting their hair with brightly colored braids or even putting on either very short dresses or very tight dresses, it also includes blending traditional attires with modern styles, Y2K aesthetics, 90’s influences and street wears with designer logos.

Some would argue that these dressing ways are socially acceptable but some learning institutions have very strict rules on what the students are allowed to dress in.

Mpasho news channel states, that some of the institutions including, Strathmore University in Nairobi whose dress code is only formal attire for both students and visitors, and Catholic University of East Africa where ragged jeans and tight clothing are not allowed but only allow something that is not revealing but neat.

Others include Kabarak University, Mount Kenya University and Daystar University just to mention.

Most of the students involved would use the slogan MY DRESS MY CHOICE, which became popular with most Kenyans after a woman was assaulted for wearing a mini skirt which aimed to end sexual harassment and violence against women in 2015.

The government has given freedom to the institutions to have their own set of rules on dressing which leaves the question, do we need to have rules on what to wear or should everyone be left to dress in what they find comfortable?