The case in summary: Innlandet county council has adopted a ban on clothing that shows belonging to a special group, including Russian clothing with a logo. Rectors have had a meeting to discuss how the ban will be enforced. None of the principals news has spoken to say that wearing Russian sweaters has led to consequences for the pupils. What is not allowed is wearing such a sweater with the purpose of excluding someone, a wording that makes the ban difficult to enforce. The principals agree that they must enforce the rules the county council has adopted through dialogue with the pupils. Gjøvik-russ Marte Emilie Ridder Slettum thinks the ban is worded strangely, and says that they do not aim to exclude anyone. County mayor Thomas Breen (Ap) says it is relevant to change the wording and get more specific guidelines on the regulations after a legality check. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. On the eve of the previous school year, Innlandet County Council, the first in the country, came up with a perhaps controversial decision. Young people are not allowed to wear clothes that show that they belong to a particular group. So, among other things, Russian clothing with a logo. The reactions were not long in coming, and on the first day of school Gjøvikrussen trooped up in their sweaters in protest. There were no consequences for the Russians at Gjøvik. Rikke Skatvedt Engen (tv) and Marte Emilie Ridder Slettum showed up with the sweater on the first day of school: – We don’t go with them to exclude, says Slettum. Photo: Roar Andre Berntsen / news Conclusion: “Dialogue” The purpose of the decision is to prevent exclusion with these types of garments. Several principals have previously told news that they did not quite know how to enforce the ban. All secondary school principals met for a joint meeting on 5 September to talk about this. news has called around to several principals after the meeting. None of the people we have spoken to say that wearing jumpers has had any consequences for their pupils. What is not allowed is wearing such a sweater with the purpose of excluding someone. – And then it is of course demanding to be able to prove that one wears a Russian sweater with the aim of being exclusionary. I still think it is demanding, says Bjørn Matsson, who is principal in Gjøvik. He says at the same time that the principals agree that they must enforce the rules the county council has adopted. The headmaster at Gjøvik secondary school, Bjørn Matsson, thinks it is demanding to enforce the ban. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news And according to principals news has spoken to, the conclusion is how to enforce the ban; “dialogue”. – I have had a dialogue, and no one claims that they have Russian sweaters because they want to exclude. – We can’t stand at the door and tell you to take off your sweater. But we can ask questions. And it will be done. We are not out looking for students with Russian sweaters now. That’s what the principal at Nord-Gudbrandsdalen secondary school, Kristin Undseth, says. The principal at the Secondary School in Kongsvinger, Marianne Bye, has not handed out notes to the third-graders either. – Then we will enter into dialogue with the pupils if we see that this leads to exclusion, on the same lines as any other activity or symbol and such things, she says. – Weirdly worded Marte Emilie Ridder Slettum goes to Gjøvik secondary school, and is Russian until spring. She was among those who showed up with the sweater on after the ban came. However, she has only used it this one time. She thinks the ban is difficult to deal with. Slettum says that while several teachers give the impression that you should not wear the sweaters, the students do not receive any notice or other sanction. Marte Emilie Ridder Slettum (th) thinks that the ban is strangely worded. Photo: Roar Andre Berntsen / news – We think it’s worded strangely, we don’t quite understand it ourselves. No one has a purpose to exclude, she says. At school, there are some who still wear the sweater as before, while others wear it less often. – It is perhaps because people are afraid of the comment that is being talked about a bit. In addition, she thinks it can be blamed on not wanting to be seen as someone who excludes. At the same time, she is clear that the purpose of the sweaters is not to exclude. In order to take action on the matter itself, they have for their part proposed plans to make a “Gjøvik-russen 2025” sweater, which the whole Russian generation can wear. – So that everyone is in one group. – Have to shuffle your feet Thomas Breen, who is county mayor for the Labor Party in the Interior, was therefore the first in the country to make such a decision. He is still clear that he wants it to be forbidden to wear Russian sweaters at school. But that he understands that the rule is not enforced so strictly now. County mayor in Innlandet, Thomas Breen (Ap), understands that the current wording makes the ban difficult to enforce. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news – You don’t always hit the mark on everything. In that sense, I don’t see it as anything dramatic. It may well be that this autumn will be a bit of a dialogue track where you have to figure out the room for action, says Breen. The wording in the decision that it is the garment that aims to exclude, he says, was not entirely lucky. The wording was not originally included, he says. – And then it entered the committee proceedings. Simply because one wanted to explain why we wanted this gone. I think it came out a bit odd, quite simply. So I fully understand that principals and teachers find it extremely difficult to assess purpose. The ban will most likely be subject to a legality check during the autumn. The Progress Party has asked for it, because they want to find out whether the county council is completely allowed to decide what the young people should wear. Breen says it is appropriate to change the wording and get more specific guidelines on the regulations after such a legality check has been carried out. – In that intermediate phase and until the next county council, it is difficult to be very much one or the other. And then it is to be able to shuffle our feet in a way that allows us to stand safely in a set of rules that both teachers, principals and we agree on can then be put into practice. Published 07.09.2024, at 09.45
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Headmasters still don’t know how to enforce the ban on Russian clothing going forward – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
