A French high school's "short" protest

La rentrée, the time of the year when the French return from their summer holidays and get back to everyday life, has of course come and gone.

And it hasn't been without its problems. This year perhaps first and foremost has been the accompanying and much-predicted rapid spread of the H1N1 virus, especially as children started the new academic year.

But for students at the Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire lycée or high school in the town of Etampes in the département of Essone, 48 kilometres south of the French capital, another completely different issue has been occupying their minds.

Last week more than 200 of them refused to follow a "request" made by the school's principal to dress "correctly" in other words for example to wear skirts that dropped beyond knee level or refrain from attending school in Bermuda shorts.

Instead they organised "The day of shorts" and turned up at school "inappropriately" dressed.

The move was undoubtedly inspired by the film "La journée de la jupe" (Skirt day) released in March this year in which among other things, the main character of the teacher Sonia Bergerac, (played by Isabelle Adjani) wears a skirt to school and in the process breaks a rule set by the principal.

Back to reality though, and the result of the demonstration was a three-day suspension for the main organiser of the "day of the shorts" which had quickly gathered support among students through social networking sites and of course text messages.

Far from being the beginning of a 1968-type student revolution, the action was, in the words of one student, "A way of making a point in as light-hearted a fashion as possible," especially as the weather was particularly hot.

And the protest is unlikely to rest there if some students have anything to do with it.

Another "event" has been planned and once again the Internet could prove to play a vital role in spreading the word as quickly as possible.

A Facebook group "The right to kiss" has been set up with over 300 members who apparently will be taking the opportunity to do exactly as the name suggests at the school on Tuesday.