Lukewarm response to ‘mandated uniform’ by Govt school teachers in Uttarakhand

More than one lakh government school teachers in Uttarakhand defied the directive of the state government to wear uniforms even as confusion prevails among the officials on the issue. The BJP government in Uttarakhand had decided to enforce a dress code for government school teachers with effect from August 1, 2017.

Various government school teachers’ associations from primary to secondary level have decided to oppose the state government’s move to impose a dress code for them.

Following the response of the school teachers, the state bureaucracy has gone soft on the issue and claimed that the dress code for the teachers was voluntary. However, the Uttarakhand Primary Education Minister Arvind Pandey insisted that the dress code for school teachers was mandatory and teachers would have to comply with the government direcrtive.

According to a circular issued by the education department, male teachers are supposed to wear dark sky blue coloured shirts with steel-grey coloured pants while female teachers are required to wear sky blue coloured saris or Salwar Kameez.

On the first day of the imposition of the dress code on Monday, very few teachers in the state wore the prescribed uniform. However, some of the teachers did order new uniforms for themselves.

A delegation of teachers had also met the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat a few days ago and sought a meeting with him on all the pending issues concerning government school teachers. It was reported that a meeting of teacher’s associations and Chief Minister would be held on August 8.

“We are not going to comply with the order unless state government talks to us on various issues confronting teachers which affect the quality of education in government schools,” said Ram Singh Chauhan, president of the Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh.

He further said that the state government, instead of solving the problem of teachers and looking into the issue of infrastructure and other facilities, has decided to impose the “Dress code”.

“We will not adhere to the government order unless we are paid an allowance to maintain the uniform,” said Nirmala Mahar, President of the Prathmik Shisha Sangh, a body of government primary school teachers. The associations have also warned that teachers who decided to wear uniforms would be debarred from their respective associations.

Uttarakhand School Education Minister Arvind Pandey has argued that uniform brings in discipline and would help in improving the worsening standards of school education in government schools of the state.