By Ogova Ondego
Published January 9, 2023
Kenya Methodist University (KeMU) has joined Daystar University, Strathmore University and Mount Kenya University in coming up with a dress code for students.
The Meru-based institution of higher learning that is owned by the Methodist Church and has campuses in Nairobi and Mombasa, issued a notice to students on January 5, 2023 detailing what it deems appropriate and inappropriate dress.
“All students are required to comply with the University Code of Dressing (section 3.21) and wear appropriate attire during study, at meal times … and in all university functions,” KeMU says in a memo signed by Esther Gakii Mbaabu, Dean of Student Welfare who says that the notice is to “encourage all students to adopt a style of dressing and appearance that would be acceptable in the various fields of work and society in general.”
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Mbaabu, who holds a doctoral degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega in western Kenya, goes on to list what KeMU considers inappropriate dress and appearance for both female and male students.
Whereas female students are forbidden from wearing clothes that expose their belly and naval (tumbo-cuts), back (bare back), any skirt that is either above the knee line (miniskirts) or whose slit is above the knee line, see-through clothes, body-tight trousers and dresses or blouses with the neckline running down more than 4 inches, their male counterparts, on the other hand, may not wear vests that show bare chest, non-tucked in shirts, earrings,hats and caps in classes and offices or spot plaited hair or dreadlocks.
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According to the official website of KeMU, “Dr Esther Mbaabu is a seasoned mediator and an experienced practicing psychological counselor [who] has been involved in teaching and training counselors at diploma and degree levels in Kenyan Universities [and] has worked extensively in psychological counseling with the youth at individual and group levels.”
KeMU says it “offers PhD, Master’s, Undergraduate, Diploma and Certificate programmes” and that its “market driven courses, industry linkages and opportunities outside classroom provide positive career outcomes for our students in their chosen fields.”
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