The Board of Governors of International School, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday, again insisted it would retain the dress code of the 55-year-old institution.

The board stated this at the end of an emergency meeting held to resolve the lingering crisis over the sudden wearing of hijab by some female Muslim students of the school.

The board headed by Prof. Adeyinka Aderinto, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, University of Ibadan, resolved that “the dress code as contained in the school rules and regulations be maintained.’’

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According to Aderinto, the school’s management has been empowered to enforce this appropriately.

The board, however, appealed to parents to abide by the extant rules of the school to enable it to fulfil its mandate of providing a sound education to its students.

Meanwhile, the alumni association of the school has said the present controversy over the wearing of hijab must be viewed against the principles and governing laws of the school and not through religion.

In an e-mail sent to Aderinto which was made available to newsmen, the president of the alumni association, Tive Ekpere, stressed that the uniform policy was introduced to erase socio-economic inequalities.

“It was also introduced to discourage segregation and minimise distraction in academic activities

“The uniform is unique and is the fabric that has bounded ISI culture and tradition till today.

“Likewise, the agitators must note that the International School Ibadan is a private school and is governed by its own policies, laws and regulations.

“The International School Ibadan (ISI) is a secular international school established to admit and provide the best possible education for boys and girls from all over the world irrespective of their ethnicity, creed, race or religion,’’ he said.

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The alumni association also advised that all religious activities on the school campus be discouraged henceforth.

“While we believe that every student should be free to practise whatever religion they wish, we are also persuaded that the exercise of such rights must be carried out within the bounds of civility.

“Within this bound of civility, what cannot be condoned are actions being taken by a selected few that could potentially jeopardise the comfort and safety of all ISI students and teachers.

” ISI, as we believe, has one mandate and that is to deliver quality education to every single student in the school and nothing more, ” he said.

( NAN)