Figure 1.--Unlike some Caribbean islands, some school boys in Barbados continue to wear short pants and kneesocks.
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Figure 1.--Unlike some Caribbean islands, some school boys in Barbados continue to wear short pants and kneesocks. |
Barbados is one of the more traditional former British colonies in the Caribbean. Unlike many Caribbean islands, many boys continue to wear short pants school uniforms. Even some secondary-level boys wear shorts.
Barbadian school uniforms have basically followed British styles. As in all the former British Caribbean colonies, all elementary-age boys and presumably many secondary-age boys wore short pants. Knee socks were common. I'm not sure when styles began to differ from British styles.
All Barbadian schools still appear to require uniforms. The principal of school uniforms on the former British colonies is widely accepted and Barbados is no exception.
Girls uniforms are still basically British. All girls wear school frocks, jumpers, or skirts; shorts and pants are not worn. (I did observe one secondary-age girl wearing trousers along with her uniform skirt.) Many girls' uniforms had ties, but rarely worn with buttined collars.
Boys styles, unlike the girls' styles have changed. Barbados in 1999 still has some vestages of traditional school uniforms, but even in Barbados there have been major changes. Most schools have uniforms of white or colored shirts (blue, khaki, red, and yellow) and khaki or blue pants. As in other Caribbean countries, especially the former British colonies, khaki is a particularly popular color for school uniforms. One school has blue-grey pants. There are some schools who require rather traditional looking grey terelyn pants. Unlike the girls, ties were almost never worn by the boys, presumably because wearing them with open collars would look slopy while for the girls it looks fashionable.
Virtually all elementary-age boys wear shorts. One school had blur baseball-style caps. Khaki was a particulartly popular color for shorts, often worn with colored open collared shirts.
Figure 2.--The boys at this secondary school wore shoulder rank badges. They also wore grey kneesocks, but they were rarely worn pulled up. |
Many middle-school age boys and younger secondary-age boys also wear shorts. Khaki and blue shorts are the most common. Some boys wear kneesocks. Although ankle socks are the most common, several schools do require kneesocks. One school with blue-grey pants has blue-grey turn-over-top socks. Khaki turn-over-top socks are also worm. There are also several schools which have grey kneesocks and colored bands, including maroon and yellow/green bands. A number of schools have the boys wear military-style shoulder badges. I wasn't positive what the badges were. I thought they were some kind od symbol of rank. A HBC contributor suggests that as many schools use white shirts in Bridgetown, they are used to identify the specific school. This appears to be most common at secondary schools. Almost all boys wear leather shoes, almost always black, rather than sneakers.
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