Schools in Thimphu will now be forbidden from allowing its students to wear tracksuits during morning assembly and classes. The decision was made at the 11th annual education conference of Thimphu Thromdey held earlier this month.
Tracksuits will now be allowed to be worn only for health and physical education classes and on sports days. Thromde education officials say the move is parts of efforts to promote national identity.
The Deputy Chief Thromde Officer, Namgay Dorji, said less than half of the students in Thimphu can be seen going to schools in tracksuits. He said the recent Thromde education conference thought it was not appropriate for the students to wear tracksuits and sing national anthem in front of the national flag.
Some schools in Thimphu say they have been not allowing students to wear tracksuits during morning assembly long before the Thromde’s recent decision came into place. For instance, the Vice Principal of Yangchenphu Higher Secondary School, Karma Wangdi, said in his school, tracksuits are allowed on Saturdays during the SUPW time.
“This is because it’s not very comfortable to work in gho and kira. The other times that we allow tracksuits are on sports days and for physical education classes. We never had our students wearing tracksuits for the entire day.”
Thimphu Thromde said the schools in Thimphu set the trend of wearing tracksuits. It will now have to strictly comply with the decision, say Thromde officials.
