School girls lined up on knees in ‘patriarchal’ skirt length check

Over 150 parents took to social media in protest

The school has since apologised for the incident (AFP via Getty Images)

A school in Melbourne, Australia, has issued an apology after making a group of girls aged 12-13 kneel to check the length of their skirts.

The school’s website states that skirts should sit on the knee. Girls in Year 7 were asked to line up and get on their knees by a teacher to see whether or not their skirts touched the ground, said Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun.

The incident caused over 150 parents of pupils at Brighton Secondary College, in Brighton East, Melbourne to take to social media. They called the incident “patriarchal” as well as a “demeaning and archaic act of public shaming.”

The parent who raised the issue said in an email to the school she was “so upset by this demeaning and archaic act of public shaming.” She added: “I really don’t want this to happen again to the girls at BSC. It is just wrong.”

Another parent commented that school is not the place for revealing clothing but did agree that the girls shouldn’t have been lined up and checked in this way.

The school’s acting principal Pat Gargano told news.com.au that the school “unreservedly apologised” for the incident, adding that it did not “reflect the school’s values of respect, empathy and integrity.”