ROW OVER SHORT SCHOOL SKIRTS IN S.KOREA

A row over how to respond to ever-shortening school skirts is brewing in South Korea.

SOUL, S. Korea - A local education board in Gangwon Province has announced plans to place boards in front of all school desks, to make students more "comfortable".
The local assembly in Gangwon is beginning a session on Wednesday during which they will decide whether to approve funding for the refurbishment. The move will cost around $700,000 (£427,000). As hemlines in Korean classrooms rise, so it seems does the cost of accommodating them.

• Gangwon's Board of Education says it plans to fit boards to the front of 50,000 desks this summer to "help students sit more comfortably in class".
• School rules It is being prompted, at least in part, by the ever-shorter skirts being worn by female students.
• In one survey, quoted in a local paper, school hemlines have reportedly risen 10-15cm (4-6in) in the last decade. And that is apparently making everyone uncomfortable.
• An official from the Education Board told local media that the blocking boards also had the support of teachers - who wanted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

They do not however have the support of the Teachers' Federation here, which has put out a statement condemning the refurbishment as a waste of money.
The matter would be much more easily and cheaply resolved, it says, by enforcing the rules on school uniform.

Source: BBC, Agency