THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A decade ago, the state government gave female teachers the right to wear churidar or salwar during duty. But the unwritten rule imposed by a majority of unaided and private school managements is teachers should wear sari saying it is the ‘tradition’ and ‘symbol of dignity.’ The rationale? Students ‘respect’ teachers only when they wear sari!
The government issued an order on February 4, 2008 allowing teachers to wear churidar/salwar following complaints about the discomfort of wearing saris. The order mentioned that as per Kerala Education Rules, there are no specific rules with regard to the dress code of teachers.
But the practice continued. Following widespread complaints of forcefully imposing sari on aided/unaided schools and BEd colleges, the Directorate of Public Instructions (DPI) issued another circular in 2013 instructing all deputy directors and district educational officers to see that the 2008 circular is imposed.
Disobeying these orders, some aided school managements instructed women teachers to wear only saris. They stopped short of issuing a circular, but verbally instructed the principals to follow the ‘tradition’.
Most of the teachers narrated the difficulties of keeping the ‘tradition’ alive, the primary one being the inordinate time it takes to drape the several-yards-long sari around in the mornings.
Lakshmi Nair (name changed), a teacher with a reputed private school in the capital, said teachers are forced to wear saris in some schools. She feels such restrictions are an infringement on their personal freedom. “We should have the freedom to wear a decent dress in schools. Forcing us to wear sari is not fair. Many teachers are uncomfortable with wearing saris while teaching. Some schools follow a dress code for teachers. They insist on sari as a uniform based on the tradition of schools,” she said.
Schools like Chinmaya Vidyalayas and those run by Christian missionaries have a sari code. The apparent reason is there has to be strict visual identification markers between teachers and students.“Churidar is a convenient dress. But sari is a symbol of dignity. Students will respect teachers only when they are clad in sari. Moreover, it can easily help to differentiate teachers from students on the school premises,” said P M Ashalatha, principal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya school, Thiruvananthapuram.
“Teachers need to feel comfortable in the clothes they wear. Ultimately, it is the quality of their teaching that matters. However, they need to dress like a professional. Our school doesn’t impose any restrictions,” said Lakshmi Ramachandran, principal, Global Public School, Kochi.
The Kerala School Teachers Association (KSTA) is supporting the teachers in their battle. “Teachers should have the freedom to wear a decent dress. Churidar is a convenient dress which accords a lot of convenience and ease to the teachers. It is high time schools gave the freedom to teachers to wear what they want. Mostly aided and unaided schools force teachers to follow the tradition. Acting upon complaints, we had taken up this issue with the government. We will take action if teachers come forward with complaints,” said KSTA general secretary K C Harikrishnan.
Some schools have removed the dress code system, allowing teachers to wear churidars. DPI K V Mohan Kumar said he is not aware of the February 2008 order. “I am not aware of that order. I will study the matter after accessing that order,” he said.