Thaindian News

Lucknow, Oct 13 (IANS) Teachers of a prestigious Bareilly College, one of the oldest in the country, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district are up in arms against the college authorities for suggesting sari as a dress code for young women teachers.

The administration of the Bareilly College, set up in 1837, issued a circular to heads of various departments, suggesting that the dress code could improve the academic atmosphere on the campus.

“It’s totally illogical…We cannot improve the academic atmosphere by imposing dress code of women teachers,” Vandana Sharma, co-ordinator of the journalism department in the college, told reporters Wednesday in Bareilly, some 250 km from Lucknow.

“Teachers of any college would agree that for improving academic results, we need to focus on other aspects like teaching methodology, teachers’ training and not on teachers’ dress,” Sharma said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Poornima Anil, a teacher in the English department of the college, said majority of teachers would oppose any kind of dress code that is imposed on them as it would not bring any positive change in terms of academic development.

Women teachers of the college are also of the view that male teachers should also follow a dress code.

“I can say that the dress code has nothing to do with the academic atmosphere, but if it has been suggested taking into account the so-called moral aspects, the male teachers should be instructed to wear dhoti-kurta on the campus,” added Sharma.

College Principal R.P. Singh told IANS: “I had issued the circular last week…The dress code has not been implemented yet…I have just suggested it for the women teachers, particularly those who are young and employed on an ad-hoc basis in the college.”

“The dress code, if applied, will differentiate the young women ad-hoc teachers from the girl students in the college,” Singh said.

However, Singh could not explain how the dress code will improve the academic standards of the college.