Caning for Boys who walked out in school uniform protest. Girls go unpunished

 

Boys in

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 BOYS who staged a defiant walk-out from a Nuneaton school were returned to their classes by police – and then caned by their headmaster.

The boys joined 50 girls in a protest outside Hartshill High School over a rule which bans female pupils from wearing trousers.

The trousers-clad girls were yesterday [30 November 1978] defying their headmaster’s “Go home and change” order and were later joined by a small group of boys.

Mr John Maxwell, the head teacher, said today: “I called the police and caned the boys simply because they went out of school without permission and were obstructing the highway.”

Today, the pupil-power was losing its momentum. Only a handful of girls were continuing their defiant stand.

Mr Maxwell added: “A large number of the girls who arrived in trousers yesterday have now returned to school in skirts.” He had received support from parents and the chairman of the school governors.

No action has yet been taken against the girls who have returned to school.

A spokesman at the area education office in Nuneaton said that the questions of dress and corporal punishment were left to headmasters and governors of individual schools.

As published in the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1 December 1978.

Picture credit: Sting Pictures

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