Figure 1.--This is as cene at a small rural school in County Monaghan, we think in the early-29th century. Notice almost all of the girls are wearing white pinafores. Tthe boys in the background are not joining in the game. The name of the village in bear the door. It looks like the Mary Selywin National School. Selywin was a children's book author. A reader writes, "I think some of the boys are being punished. They are holding objects above their heads. I have come across this way of punishment in several exhibitions about school life in a number of European and central Asian countries. The female teacher is with the boys and a young monitor is in charge of the girls. The boys could be having a lesson related to the activity the girls are practicing.
Pinafores were a very commom garment worn at Irish schools during the 19th century and early-20th centuries. This was common in many European and American schools. Girls in many countries, including Ireland wore them. We also see boys at some pre-schools wearing them in various countries. We note Irish boys wearing dresses to school in the 19th and early-20 centuries. Pre-schools werenot, however, very common until well into the 20th century. This was esoeciallybthe casein poor countries like Ireland. And these were not just pre-school boys, but boys in the early primary years. Mothers wanted to confuse the faries. Most of the photographs show the boys just wearing dresses. But at some schools the boys also wore pinafores, just like the girls. At many schools just the girls and very young boys wore pinafores. But we see some where the younger primary boys wore pinafores. We only see the boys wearing pinafores with dresses. We do not know any other country where school boys wore dresses and piafores as was the case in Ireland. A good example is the Kilglass National School in Galway during 1902. The school here seems to be the Mary Selywin National School (figurev 1).
