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No dress code for teachers: Calcutta high court

Court junks Bengal school’s claim that teachers’ white dress is a tradition.

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A single-judge bench of the Calcutta high court came out with a landmark judgment on Friday that barred any state-run or state-sponsored educational institution from imposing a dress code on teachers.

In his ruling, justice Jayanta Biswas strongly disapproved the tendency among governing bodies of educational institutions to impose dress codes, especially on women teachers.

The judge also pointed out that developing proper infrastructure and building the right educational atmosphere should be the prime focus of the governing bodies, and not issuing fatwas on what kind of attire a teacher should wear while attending school.

The verdict relates to a case filed by seven women teachers of Golap Mohini Mallick Girls High School at Singur in Hoogly district. The teachers were barred from attending the school after they refused to abide by a directive that said they should wear only white sarees while attending classes.

In their petition, the teachers said quality of teaching was not dependent on the colour of their dress. Their counsel Ekramul Bari pleaded that the school governing body had no authority to impose any dress code on them.

“The teachers are quite conscious of what to wear while attending school. A teacher will never come to school in some skimpy attire. Hence they should have the independence of choosing the type and colour of their dress. A school governing body cannot interfere in such matters,” he said.

Golap Mohini counsel Nikhil Roy observed that white saree has been the traditional dress of teachers of the 75-year-old school. “Students, guardians and even local people have become habituated to the dresses of the teachers. The school governing body had just objected to the attempt of breaching the tradition by some teachers,” he said.

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