“I want to thank all of the young campaigners who have been bravely raising their voices about this, and whose dedication will lead to seeing this wrong righted.
“The fact that in 2026 young girls and women had to campaign for this at all will not be forgotten. I welcome the Minster finally doing the right thing, but this should have been included in his original school uniform guidelines, and the committee will be doing their full due diligence to guarantee the wording used in this update will ensure all girls are granted the right to wear trousers as part of their school uniform.
“Either way, Minister Givan will have to explain why he took so long to move on this issue. Substantial sums of public money have been spent on drafting legislation to fix his error of judgement, and we have said all along that he could have avoided this with the stroke of a pen.
“This is about dignity, comfort and safety while at school, and Alliance will continue working to ensure the rights of women and girls remain at the centre of our policy-making process.”