Back to School: Student Dress Codes Around the Globe

In some countries, the school year begins on 1 September, also known as the Day of Knowledge. Although it is not a public holiday, some people celebrate it. For instance, in post-Soviet countries, students traditionally give a bouquet of flowers to their teachers and reunite with friends after the summer holidays.

School uniforms are also an important part of a student's life. The rules and standards for uniforms vary from country to country. In the UK, almost all children have to wear a uniform to school, while American students are not obliged to wear uniforms, but instead follow a standardised dress code for what types of clothing are appropriate for students to wear at campus.

Check out Sputnik's photo gallery to get a closer look at how students dress for school.

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Chinese students prepare for the opening ceremony of the Haileybury College Chinese campus in China's northern Tianjin Municipality. International schools are booming thanks to growing demand from Chinese parents seeking different pathways for their children to study abroad. Top prep schools are opening campuses in China and catering to students who want to go to university in the West. Getting into China’s best public high schools can be monumentally difficult and many parents are opting to pay for what they see as a less stressful and more enriching experience at an international school.

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Students salute as a woman casts her ballot during Cuba's first local elections since a historic thaw in relations with the United States, in Havana, Cuba.

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Former US First Lady Melania Trump and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie pose for a photo with schoolchildren upon arrival at Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School in Tokyo, 6 November 2017.

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A group of young students wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus wait in a queue before entering the Luis Amigo School, in Pamplona, northern Spain.

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A group of students pose for a selfie as they tour the Naksan “art village” wearing 1970's style school uniforms as part of an educational initiative, in Seoul on 23 February 2016.

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Children from a Christian Brother's School follow instructions from a volunteer during a preview of the Louisiana Children's Museum at its new location in City Park in New Orleans, Tuesday, 27 August 2019.

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School children carry brooms as they walk to various public spaces to sweep and weed the grass in efforts to keep the city clean on 28 July 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

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Children pose for a photo wearing classical school uniforms in Moscow, Russia.

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School students walk down a street in Hong Kong.

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Children hold their hands on their chests as the national anthem is played during festivities marking the beginning of the school year at the Ferdinand I school in Bucharest, Romania.

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Children wearing face masks amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus return home after learning that public gatherings and schools are shut following a late-night state government order, in a village in Kannauj, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh,14 March 2020.

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Children jump and smile during an activity at a school in Caracas, Venezuela.

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Pupils line up in the courtyard of the Mahaba School in Ezbet al-Nakhl, a shanty town north of the Egyptian capital Cairo on 13 October 2018.

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Pupils return to Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow for the first time following the easing of coronavirus lockdown measures on 12 August 2020.

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Byak Betew tribal children in their school uniforms as they line up to welcome visitors to the island of Saukabu, one of the 1,500 islands of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Raja Ampat – which means Four Kings – is made up of 1,500 islands and has one of the most biodiverse marine habitats on Earth. But its education and health system lags far behind other parts of Southeast Asia's largest economy. Many students do not finish high school, instead they take care of siblings and spending time on the palm-fringed beaches.

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Students wearing face masks sit inside a classroom at the Marie Curie School in Hanoi on 4 May 2020, as schools re-opened after a three-month closure to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Britain's Prince Harry (R) looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo on 17 October 2018.

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Students line up to enter a classroom in their new uniforms on the first day of classes in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, 29 September 2016.