As of today both girls and boys are forbidden from going to school with earrings or piercings, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said on Monday.

Answering questions by TVM, the Minister said that the equality between girls, boys and all genders is by respecting each other, not through earrings or studs. He said that the ban is effective immediately and is being implemented for health and safety reasons, not gender equality concerns.

Last week a school in Gozo made news headlines after forbidding boys from wearing their studs to school, whilst allowing girls to do so.

The parents of a 12-year-old boy at the school said that the school’s policy was discriminatory and also sent questions to Minister Bartolo, who told them that policies were “being updated.”