Thousands of students from Romania came to school dressed in black on Monday in protest against the introduction of mandatory school uniforms. The measure is provided for in a bill that has passed the Senate and is awaiting the decisive vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The National Council of Students (CNE) contests the initiative and maintains that it was not even invited to consultations by the initiators of the project, reports IPN.

The campaign was launched by the CNE, under the slogan “Education cannot be mended at the tailor’s”. The organization argues that uniforms do not solve school problems, such as inequality or harassment. At the same time, students claim that the introduction of mandatory uniforms at school would limit their freedom of expression and believe that the law would not bring them benefits. They say they want to keep their freedom to choose how they dress at school, while respecting decency rules.

According to the project, the uniform model would be determined specifically by the administration of each school, which could not impose other clothing items, except for the badge. The uniforms would be free or subsidized from local budgets and non-reimbursable external funds.

The bill is not even supported by the Ministry of Education and Research in Bucharest: in a point of view sent to the Senate Education Committee, the ministry expressed its disagreement with the bill. The position of the institution coincides with that of the Economic and Social Council, which also gave a negative opinion. Nevertheless, the project was voted by the Senate, and the final decision belongs to the Chamber of Deputies.