Chief educational officer's circular on dress code stirs controversy

Thiruvalarselvi, who took charge as the new chief educational officer (CEO) of Karur district on Monday, has stirred up a hornet's nest by re-circulating a July 2012 School Education Department order on dress code for all school teachers.

Many teachers in the district who spoke to TOI on condition of anonymity said that trying to implement a dress code for teachers is a futile attempt and the CEOs of other districts never cared about the education departments' instruction to re-circulate an old order. The new CEO circulated the order just to make people know about her arrival in the post, they said.

The teaching community opposed the education department's assumption that the way the lady teachers dressed was responsible for the unacceptable behaviour of male students and that male teachers preferred to dress themselves up in jeans and t-shirts just to attract the attention of the girl students, a teacher said. "Dressing oneself in a dignified way was a purely subjective matter," he added.

However, Thiruvalarselvi told TOI that the dress code had to be followed strictly by all the schools since the Director of School Education Department had advised her to implement it strictly. She said the order on dress code had been in existence and she was just trying to implement it. "It is applicable to all the schools - government, Adi Dravidar, self-financing and aided schools - and I am going to strictly implement it since the director has sent the circular again," she clarified.

In a blog post, the CEO highlighted the importance of adhering to a 'decent dress'. However, many teachers said the message was vague.

"All I want is that the dress they (teachers) wear during school hours must be decent," Thiruvalarselvi told TOI. When asked to explain the definition of a 'decent dress' since there was a confusion over it, she said, "It must be in keeping with our culture."

Many teachers wondered if sleeveless jackets and jeans were decent dresses or not. They wanted the education department to specify what it meant by a decent dress. "The Education Department must try to find ways to instill discipline in the students, instead of implementing the vague dress code," a teacher said.

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