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HBC has not yet done much work on Asian school uniforms. As in Africa, uniform styles have been very strongly influenced by European styles. The Japanese and Koreans have adopted a variety of different European styles from English sailor suits to Prussian cadet iniforms. British fashions have been very imprtant in former colonies like India, Hong Kong, Malausia, Singapore, and Sri Lanks. The Chinese adopted some unique styles, but today uniforms are little worn and the clothes children wear generally have western styling. The Islamic revival has affected school fashions in countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. The poverty of many Asia countries has meant many families could not afford school uniform, but economic conditions improved markedly in the late 20th century.
Afghanistan has go through some wrenching political changes in recent years. These changes have affected clothing standards because of the extrenme attitudes od Islamic conservatives toward clothing. Afhgan boys do not wear school uniforms. They do, however, wear some distinctive fashions to school.
Modern Armenia is one of the former Soviet Republics. We do not yet have information about Armenia during the Soviet era or schools in independent Armenia. We note the Armenian Sisters Academy in 2005 which a HBC reader tells us is a school in the Unuted States. One photograph shows the children wearing smocks.
Camodian education was traditionally a function of the wats (Buddhist temples). There was no tradition of secular educatyion. This mean that education was centered on religion and restricted to a relatively small part of the population. Only boys were educated in the wats. Cambodia was nearly devestated by invading Thai and Vietnamese armies. King Noradom requested French intervention (1854) which ended the wars with Thailand and Vietnam and ushered in a period of French colonial control. The French oversaw major improvements in the country's infrasructure, but gave little attention to other areas such as education. This was in part a decesion not to disrupt traditional Kymer society. The French did not address the need for a modern education system until the 20th century. French colonial officials enacted the Law on Education (1917). This introduced a basic primary and secondary education system modelled somewhat on the French system. It was not, however, a mass education syste, It was an elitist designed to educate a very small part of the population, basically to meet the needs of the French colonial system and not the Kymer people. The creation of a mass education system did not come until independence (1955).
Chinese school children in the 2000s all wear uniforms. The uniforms are seasonabl, depending on where the school is located in China. The summer uniforms usually consist of short pants and a shirt in the same style, sometimes in quite gaudy
colours. Sailor collars are frequent for girls. One favourite style is a coloured suit with piping in white or a contrasting colour. Children used to wear their school uniforms with red Young Pioneer scarves, but this is now less common.
Hong Komg being a former British Colony, school uniforms are modelled very much along the lines of British schools, however it must the said the Chinese are noted for their liking of uniforms also. Almost without exception all boys of primary/junior school age wear shorts for school. Most schools have two uniforms, summer and winter uniforms.
We do not yet have detailed information on Indian schools. As best we can determine. the vast majority of schools in India, both public and private alike, do have a mandatory school uniform policy in grades 1-12. I am not sure how strictly uniforms are enforced in rural schools, but school uniforms appear to be strictly enforced in urban schools. We would be interested in any information that Indian readers could provide us. We have information on a private school in India-- La Martiniere .
We have very little information about Iranian schoolwear at this time. We have on image of schoolboys in Yzed about 1908. We believe that smocks have commonly been worn, primarily by girls.
We do not yet have much information about Isreali schoolwear. Isreali school children have not worn uniforms. Fashions were influenced by the generally European origins of most Isrealis. Early images mostly show boys wearing short pants. Climate was another factor. Fashions since the 1970s have generall been the same as the American-influenced pan-European fashions worn in Europe, again affected by the climate. A HBC reader describes the experiences at one school in 1979. We also note the first day of school at an Isreali primary school. The children all wear sport casual styles. Sandals seem very popular. We also see very large book packs.
Japan has undergone sweeping changes in the past century, emerging from a feudal society to an industrial powerhouse. This journey took western countries a millenium but the Japanese negotiated the sweeping social changes in only a century. One thing remained constant throughout that journey until well into the 1980s. Japan's much-lauded modern education system is considered by many to have been one of the key elements in the country's emergence as a highly industrialized nation. Industry has long have recognized the value of broadly trained workers. Landed aristocrats often want to restrict education, byt industrial planners see the need for an educated--if not always well paid work force. And Japan in the late 19th century was determined to industrialize. Individuals likewise saw education as the means to achieve personal advancement. In the Japanese system, where one attends school largely determines one's ultimate social status and financial success. As a result, students from a young age work extremely hard to qualify for the best possible schools.The Japanese paid extraodinary attention to attire fitting one's station in life. Artists, teachers, businessmen, housewives, young unmarried women, athletes all have their instantly recognizable ways of dressing--and when the country's public education system was established, this was applied to children as well. For secondary school students, that meant Prussian cadet uniforms for boys and English sailor suits for girls. Japan was the only major country to outfit its school children in military uniforms. And for younger boys, school uniforms meant short pants. The Japanese at the on set of public education strongly believed in uniforms for both elementary and secondary school children and this tradition continues unabated.
South and North Korea shared the same history until the Japanese defeat in World War II. As agreed previously, the Soviets occupied Korea north of the 38th paralell and the Americans to the south. The Soviets installed a Communist dictatorship in the north which coninues today. We have bery little information about North Korean schools. Images available from the early 2000s show coordinted white and blue uniforms for boys and girls.
The first "modern" Korean schools were established in 1880, mainly by Christian missionaries. The advancement of Korea's educational system was delayed, however, first by Japan's colonial rule (1910-45) and second, by the Korean War (1950-53). Since then, it has progressed rapidly, and Korea today has a literacy rate of 98%, one of the highest in the world. (hurray!). Korean schools (1-12) place far above the US ones in international standardized exams, especially for math and science.)
Short cut short pants were not as commonly worn by Korean school boys as was the case in Japan. Secondary school uniforms, however, are similar to Japanese styles. Unlike Japan, there are no private schools in Korean and even private tutoring untilmrecently has been illegal.
We have no information on Lebanese schools at this time. France played an important role in Lebanon. Lebanon had been a part of the Ottomon Empire until the British drove them out at the end of World War I. France created a protectorate for Lebanon and thus help found the modern school system. While we have little information on Lebonese schools at this time, we do have some information on the French schools in Lebanon. French schools in Lebanon appear to have been very insistant that boys and girls wear snocks to school. Smocks also appear to have been commonly wirn in the state schools. This appears to have been a common pattern in many Arab countries.
School uniforms are compulsory in Malaysia, showing the British influence. Malaysia's population is about 50 percent ethnic Malay, all Muslim. The rest are ethnic Chinese (mostly Christian or Taoist) and ethnic Tamil (mostly Hindu). Chinese and Indian boys wear short pants to school--usually as part of simple uniforms of white short-sleeved shirts and navy blue short pants. However, the Malay boys wear navy long pants. The Islamic dress code (veils for women) specifically prohibts men (and presumably boys) from showing knees in public. The boys do not wear blazers because it is too hot.
Manchukuo was the Japanese puppet state set up in Manchuria after the Japanese Army seized the province from China. We have little information on school uniforms yet, but we do have some information on the schools run by the Japanese. There were seperate schools for Chinese and Japanese children, with Chinese children given inferior schools and education. All the teachers were Japanese and instruction was in Japanese. Children were forbidden to speak Chinese in school. Discipline was very strict.
A pakistani reader has provided us a brief introduction about school uniform code in Pakistan.
The Pakistani education system is divided into three broad categories: a) the english-medium system, b) the urdu-medium system, c) the religious madressahs.
School uniforms are compulsory in Singapore, showing the British influence. Most Singapore schools seem to require short trousers for boys up to about 14 at least. No blazers though because it is too hot.
Education in Sri Lanka has been affected by political and religious trends. The Aryan Indian Prince Vijaya conquered Sri Lanka who estanlished a Singhalese kingdom (6th century BC). Buddhism reached Sri Lanka (3rd century BC) and became the dominant religion. Anuradhapura became a great Buddhist religious site and important educational center. Unlike India itself, Hinduism did not supplant Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The education system of Sri Lanka until colonial times was primarily controlled by Buddhist monks and designed for a small elite. The Mogol emperors of India never conquered the country are brought Islam. Arab traders arrived (12-13 th century). The Portuguese estanlished comntrol over coastal areas (16th century). The Dutch seized control (1658). The British seized the Dutch and native settlements during the war associated with the French Revolution and Napoleon. The British introduced modern secular education. The British colony was known as Ceylon. The country achieved its independence within the British Commonwealth (1948). The current name of Sri Lanka was adopted. Sri Lanka's current education has a strong British imprint.
School uniforms are commonly worn in Thailand. The uniforms at a typical school is a white shirt and black or kahki short pants for a boys and white middy blouse, dark blue skirt, and dark blue bow for a girls. However each schools has there own distinctive uniforms.
Tajik students until 1992 and independence wore Soviet school uniforms. We do not have a great deal of information on modern Takijistan, but we notice sone school schools with uniforms od sweaters, white shirts, and long pants. Colors vary from school to school.
Elementary boys in Turkey wear smocks, generally blue smocks with white Peter Pan collars, and long pants. I'm not sure, however, just when this fashion was first instituted. Secondary school students also wear uniforms, but I do not yet have details on the style.
we know little about early education in Uzbekistan. Uzbek officials point to a Chinese scholar, Suan Tsan, who reported 5-year old boys in Samarkand being taught how to read, write and count. These boys then persued business and trade on silk road caravans. We have little information about education in the ensuing 1,000 yesrs but education appears to have been very limited, confined primarily to Islamic madrassas. Girls were not educated at all. Boys at the madrassas memmorized Koranic verses and other Islamic texts. Lessons were primarily chanting verses and boys who did not learned the verses were beaten. The Russian invasion (1868) brought modern education to Uzbekistan for the first time. The Russian Revolution brought a atheism campaign. Islam and other religions were percecuted and madreasses were shut down. The education of girls was promoted.
Uzbekistan became independent after the disolution of the Soviet Union (1992). One of the first laws passed by independent Uzbekistan was the Education Law (June l992). Uzbekistan today has a very young population as a result of a high birth rate, a reflection of the country's still rural population. The Government reports that children, teenagers, and young people under the age of 25 comprise approximately 60 percent of the total population. The authoritarian Government, however, has mismanaged the economy. Only limited funds are available to finance a nodern education system and few jobs are beding created for graduates as a result of the country's boribund population.
There are about 1 million kindergarten children and 5 million school children. About one-third of the primary children go on to academic secondary schools or trade sdchools.
We have only limited information on Vietnamese education at this time. We know nothing about tradition education bfore the French colonial era. The French intrduced a modern education system, but a limited one. The French made no effort to build a mass education system, but rather a small system aimed primarily at training an elite to help run the colonial administration. A Vietnamese student has provided us information about the country's current education system.
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