The opposition by the powerful organisations of teachers to the dress code has ensured that teachers would not wear the attire decided by the education department. The department had ordered that teachers should follow the dress code in the schools from August 01. However after protest from the teachers the department has made the dress code optional but considering the mood of the teachers it seems improbable that teachers would come to the schools in the attire decided by the department from Tuesday.
The General Secretary of the Prathemik Shikshak Sangh (PSS), the association of primary school teachers Digvijay Singh said that teachers will continue wearing the clothes to the school which they usually wear. He said that if the government want that teachers should wear a designated dress than it should include it in department’s rules and regulations. “ Our organisation is the view that teachers should wear a dignified dress so that a positive message is delivered to the students and society but in the name of dress code we will not allow harassment,’’ he said.
The general secretary of the Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh, Sohan Singh Majila said that the teachers will wear the attire decided by the government only when they are paid dress allowance. The organization has also made it clear that it would not accept the order on dress code as its demands are pending for a long time. The opposition of powerful organization of teachers on the department’s move to foist the dress code can be gauged from the fact that recently one teacher Hemant Joshi of Nainital distirict was suspended from the Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh when he started wearing the attire designated by the department.
The idea of dress code for teachers is brain child of state education minister Arvind Pandey. After assuming charge of the office he had repeatedly expressed his desire for the dress code for the teachers. The minister’s intention behind implementation of dress code is to ensure that teachers are wearing decent clothes in the schools. However the opposition of teachers has thrown a spanner in his efforts. It is learnt that to break standoff on the issue, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat has invited leaders of different teacher organizations on July 08.
In an order dated July 07, the Director General (DG) of school education, Captain Alok Shekhar Tiwari had decided that male teachers should wear dark sky blue shirt and steel grey trouser in the schools while female teachers should wear Sky blue Sari or Salwar suit.
Most of the teachers are angry in the manner in which the dress code was foisted on them. One of a teacher posted in Raipur block of Dehradun said that the department first said that the dress to be worn would be decided after consultation with teachers and then all of a sudden the order of designated dress was imposed on us. This is nothing but a high headed approach, he added.