They enforce the regulation, which is not included in Ministry of Education rules, by not supplying school textbooks to girls whose necks have the slightest exposure.
A mother complained to Arab News that a principal asked her daughter Nouf to return her books after she found that the girl’s neck was slightly open.
“Last week Nouf returned home crying. She said she received the text books in the morning and after a little while a school official took back the books because less than five centimeters of her neck was showing,” she said.
Some school principals also ask other teachers to inspect the girls’ dress and if anyone has an open neck her books are taken back, she added.
Ayisha, a secondary school student, complained that her school forces girls to wear only white or black hair ribbons and shoes.
“The school authorities do not show any flexibility with these girls and behave like policemen,” she said.
A sociologist, Haila Fanis, said the conduct of some school principals is not only oppressive, but illegal as well.
“Some school principals are enforcing their personal views as though they are acting under instructions from the ministry,” she added.
She urged school principals to be models for others and not to behave in an arbitrary manner, making life difficult for students.
Arab News attempted to contact the education department in Abha for a comment, but no one was available for comment.
