Russian state to adopt school uniform bill

Duma deputies are planning to adopt a federal bill which will specify the requirements for a new school uniform which should be compulsory for every school student, said Deputy head of the Duma Committee on Education Irina Mainulova ( from the United Russia). An initial bill had envisaged that every territory of the Russian Federation should design its own model of a school uniform, depending on traditions and climatic onditions, but "the regions proved not ready to assume the responsibility," Mainulova said. Deputies from different regions asked the State Duma to specify a standard image of a school student, she said. They fear that the new school uniform might provoke a negative reaction from the local population, and therefore, they want the new image of a school student to be specified in a federal bill," Mainulova told the Izvestia daily. The Duma has set up a working group, headed by Chairman of the Duma Committee on Education Vyacheslav Nikonov, which will meet on May 14 to officially specify all the requirements for the new school uniform. On April 23 the State Duma raised the subject of resuming a compulsory school uniform after it received a bill drafted by MPs Olga Timofeyeva and Mikhail Starshinov (both from ONF) in which the MPs suggested that wearing a uniform at school should be resumed. Olga Timofeyeva told Itar-Tass then that they did not insist on a compulsory, uniform model which was used previously, but envisaged a possibility for regions to set their own standards, taking into account the specifics of their territories and the recommendations made by teachers and parents. The discussion of this problem will continue in the ONF framework, and the results of the discussion will be taken into consideration when the bill comes up for second reading, Timofeyeva told Itar-Tass.