On the backfoot after its proposed dress code making overcoats mandatory for girl students in the union territory to prevent sexual crimes evoked outcry, the Puducherry government today said it would take a decision on the issue only after public feedback.
"It was only a suggestion and no decision was taken... We will not impose anything arbitrarily as the feedback for the proposal is important," Education Minister T Thiagarajan said, days after the prescribed dress code was dubbed as regressive.
The proposal would be placed before teachers, students, parents and leaders of public opinion to enlist their suggestions and views, Thiagarajan told PTI.
The suggestion for overcoat was made by a principal of a government school at a meeting of heads of schools and education officials convened by him on January 5 to discuss academic improvement and student discipline, he said.
He said the meeting was only a routine programme and had no significance in the wake of the recent incident of alleged abduction and rape of a minor girl in the union territory.
"I wish that the matter was not blown out of proportion," he said.
On the criticism of the move by different fora, he said, "No directive has been given as no decision has been taken on the matter."
Thiagarajan's clarifications came even as protests against the proposal by students and others continued.
Students of a government polytechnic college here held a sit-in strike demanding that the move be dropped while workers of VCK staged a demonstration making a similar demand.