INDECENT DRESSING AMONG UNDERGRADUATES: A CASE STUDY OF THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, EKIADOLOR, EDO STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Indecent appearance has come to characterize the dress pattern of many students on the campuses of higher learning in Nigeria. There is hardly any higher institution of learning in this country that is not faced with this nauseating problem. The way students on these campuses of learning particularly, the female ones, dress seductively leaves much to be desired. What the girls call skirts that they wear is just “one inch” longer than their pants. When they put on such dresses, they struggle to sit down, find difficulty in climbing machines, cross gutters as well as pick anything from the ground. Apart from the skimpy and tight fitting nature of these dresses, they are again transparent; revealing certain parts of the bodies that under normal dressing patterns ought to be hidden away from the glare of people. In the case of boys, their pattern of dress is different. It makes them to look so dirty and very unattractive with unkempt hairs and dirty jeans having pockets of holes deliberately created around the knees and the lower part of the trousers allowed to flow on the ground because they go through their heals into their legs as socks. The waist of their trousers are lowered and fastened tightly at the middle of the two bottom lobes to reveal their boxers (pants). And when they are walking, they drag their legs and one of their hands particularly, the left one, cupping their invisible scrotum as if they will fall to the ground if not supported. Many of them because of how they dressed had at one time or the other become victims of rape, lured into prostitution, used for ritual purpose, unable to complete their education or training and also engaged in other ancillary social and moral problems like cultism and lying to mention these few. Although, there are no universally acceptable way or ways of dressing, dresses are meant to serve some definable purposes, country or region notwithstanding. They are part of a peoples’ culture and they define their tribal or ethnic identity. Apart from dresses being a means for cultural identity, they are for ornamental or aesthetic purposes, for protection of the body against harsh weather conditions as well as for covering the intimate parts of the body (Answer.com, 2011; &Articlesbase.com, 2011). These purposes are important especially as they form major aspects of a person’s personality. But as important as these purposes are, they have been defeated by the generation of Nigerian youths (Articlesbase.com, 2011). Their dress patterns are most times anti-African, and are invented. They usually dress in a manner that does not show that they are responsible (nigerianfilms.com, 2009). The African culture and particularly that of Nigeria encourage modesty in appearance as do the Christian and Islamic religions where the larger population of these youths claim to be worshipping God.

The Dress Code on campuses is simply a law passed by the authorities of some universities and other tertiary institutions in order to ensure that students dress properly and decently. The Dress code, which has been passed in many institutions, notably the University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology, Minna, University of Abuja among others, prohibits certain types of dressing considered to be indecent for the students on campus. It goes further to specify specific uniform dress for students in some professional courses such as Law and Accounting among others.

Furthermore, in order to ensure compliance to the dress code law, the school authorities have empowered the school security personnel to turn back any student not properly dressed from the school premises. This was operational at the University of Abuja where students were checked at the main gate before being allowed to go in. Apart from the security, lecturers have also been empowered to send out student from lecture halls, students who do not comply with the dress code.

This UN-African dress pattern among the youths of this generation has generated lots of concern and worry among the citizenry of the country. Religious institutions as well as institutions of learning are not resting on their oars to watch this immoral act being perpetuated, but they speak against it. For instance, Olori (2003) reported that at the College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state rules were made that any dress won must cover intimate parts of the body, must not expose the breast, stomach, navel and bare chest.

1.2 Statement of the problem

It is increasingly becoming obvious that indecent dressing has gradually taken over the dress pattern of students in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria, and College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state is no exception. It has become like an epidemic spreading so fast and the earlier something is done about it, the better for the future of our desperate and vulnerable youth. Furthermore, celebrity dresses and accessories are typically imported and sold in high-end stores or boutiques at exorbitant prices which contributes to indecent dressing. Students who are still financially dependent on their parents unnecessarily limit themselves to purchasing such clothing, and at this point their purchasing behavior becomes more impulsive and credit-based, which is detrimental to their academic needs. Most of these clothing  is not easily obtained or seen in markets, so students must go the extra mile by ordering online for a specific design or style. Others who want but are unable to order go in search of the cheapest lookalikes in order to have some form of identity with celebrities, even if it is beyond their means. The overwhelming aspect is that most students are so preoccupied with beauty and fashion that they hardly focus on their studies; most of the time, they are so preoccupied with what is trending and social activities in institutions that they neglect their academics.

One is not however surprised because what is typical of most Nigerian administrators is always a wide gap between policy formulation and execution. Indecent dressing even though is not accepted as the normality, is seen to be gaining ascendancy. One then wonders what becomes of the society tomorrow with the caliber of students that are being trained. If rules are made for people, they are supposed to be adequately informed why such rules are made. It is for this very reason and against this background that the problem of the study is to investigate the impact of indecent dressing on the moral values of students of College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state as well as suggests solutions that could remedy the further spread of this immoral act on campuses of learning in Nigeria.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The main objective of the study is to examine  indecent dressing  among undergraduate  students using College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state students as case study . Specifically, the study sought to:

1 Determine the possible causes of indecent dressing among undergraduates.

2 Ascertain if  indecent dressing poses a negative impacts on academic performance of College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state students.

3 Assess if  indecent dressing impacts the moral values of students.

4 Proffer possible solutions to the issue of indecent dressing.

1.4 Research Questions

1.        What are the possible causes of indecent dressing?

2.        Does indecent dressing impacts the academic performance of College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state students?

3.        Does  indecent dressing impacts the  moral values of students?

4.        What are the possible solutions to the issue of indecent dressing in Tertiary institution?

1.5 Significance of the study

Decent dressing can be explained as the proper way of dressing or the generally accepted way of dressing without exposing vital parts of the human body. Indecent dressing on the other hand is the improper and provocative way of dressing relative to the society or culture in which it is being perpetrated. This is to say that indecent dressing cannot be properly defined in isolation of the societal norms or religious boundaries.

This is so because students who dress indecently have divided attention for their studies and are therefore unable to receive adequate practical training which is a prerequisite for employment by most companies. And because such companies are not ready to spend extra money training such partially groomed graduates, the latter find themselves joining the Unemployed Graduate Association of Nigeria. This study will be of benefit to students as it tries to curb the problem of indecent dressing in Nigerian higher institutions.  Lastly, this study will be used as research study for other researchers and academics seeking valuable information related to this topic.

1.6 Scope of the study

This study analyses indecent dressing among undergraduates. The study focuses on College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

As every human endeavor is once faced with a constraint, the same was tenable during the period of this study. In the course of carrying out this study, the researcher experienced some constraints, which included time constraints, financial constraints, language barriers, and the attitude of the respondents. In addition, there was the element of researcher bias. Here, the researcher possessed some biases that may have been reflected in the way the data was collected, the type of people interviewed or sampled, and how the data gathered was interpreted thereafter. The potential for all this to influence the findings and conclusions could not be downplayed.  More so, the findings of this study are limited to the sample population in the study area, hence they may not be suitable for use in comparison to other tertiary institutions in other , states, and other countries in the world.