BENGALURU: Colleges in the city have rules bordering on nonsensical. They are imposed in the name of discipline, but what harm can blue denims or sleeveless outfits do?
Apparently, they are “indecent” or corrupting.
We do a round up of the strangest rules, but none of our sources (students and teachers) want to be named. Some college authorities have also tried to explain their standpoint.
At Surana College, graduation students are expected to come in formals and semi-formals on weekdays, while casual wear is allowed on weekends. “Plain T-shirts and those with collars are permitted, while those with excessive graphics are forbidden,” says a student. “The college only permits jeans which are regular and ‘decent’”.
BNV Sandeepani, the head of Admission and Marketing at the college, says that these are in place to get students used to dress codes. It readies them for a professional environment.
“When a campus recruitment happens, we don’t want our students to lose out on a job only because of their informal clothing,” he says. “We encourage smart dressing and such dress codes help form habits.”
The restrictions are also in force after unpleasant incidents, he says, where inappropriate comments were passed and fights broke out. All, which the college puts to, improper dressing.
Students of National College, in Basavanagudi, say that girls and boys are not allowed to put up a performance together. One play by boys and another, by girls. Teachers, on condition of anonymity, agree.
But Principal K Narappa says that this is not true. “We have co-education in our college. We do not bar our students from mingling."
In Presidency College, students say that they are not allowed footwear into exam halls.
This is a bit of an exagerration, says a professor. There were incidents of students hiding answer chits in their footwear during an exam, so a “squad” checks students’ shoes.
Vabitha Joseph, the Head of Department, Centre for Media Studies, says, “Besides the external squads, our internal squads engage in footwear checking. But it is not true that students write exams barefooted.”
(With inputs from Swaroop Subbaiah and Jijo Jose)