Schoolboy's skirt protest up for human rights award

 

Richard Hall Author Biography

Richard Hall

Richard Hall is a freelance journalist on The Independent's News Desk. He was formerly Middle East Editor of The Daily Star, Beirut.

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Monday 21 November 2011

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A boy who wore a skirt to school in protest at a ban on boys wearing shorts during the summer months has been nominated for a human rights award.

Chris Whitehead, 12, took a stand against his school's uniform policy after being told that boys must wear trousers all year round.

The pupil at Impington Village College near Cambridge arrived at school one day in May wearing a skirt, to highlight the discriminatory rules.

"In the summer months, girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts," Chris explained at the time. "It discriminates against boys. I will march in a skirt with other boys waving banners and making a lot of noise."

His demonstration made the headlines around the world and prompted the school to review its uniform policy.

Now Chris has been shortlisted for the Human Rights Young Person of the Year award at the Liberty Human Rights awards.

Expressing his surprise at the nomination, he told Cambridge News: "I am sure there will be other people there who are also very worthy of awards and I am looking forward to meeting them."

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