The Karnataka government has decided to impose a new dress code for high school girls: Skirts-and-shirts will be replaced by churidar-kurta or salwar kameez.
The move will impact a whopping 6.5 lakh girls studying in the eighth, ninth and tenth standards in government schools as well as government-aided schools. The new uniforms will come into effect from the coming academic year.
Speaking to The Times of India, primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait explained: "The change in the dress code has been taken with a view to building confidence among girl children and to protect their rights. In fact, there had been demands from parents of girl children to change school uniforms"
Currently, high school girls in the state wear skirts and shirts. While students in the state-run schools are supplied with uniforms by the government those studying in aided schools are supposed to purchase the uniforms prescribed by their respective schools.
The decision to replace the skirt-shirt uniforms was also endorsed by chief minister Siddaramaiah during a review meeting of the primary and secondary education department on Friday morning. According to sources in the bureaucracy, the move comes in the backdrop of a few untoward incidents that had been reported recently in the rural areas, where girl students have been subjected to eve-teasing and abuse while on their way to school or returning home.
"This is definitely not a move geared at curbing the freedom of choice, but to ensure protection to school-going girls, especially at a time when the proliferation of smartphones and the social dangers associated with it are high. The move comes as a breather even for parents as school girls will not attract unnecessary attention from mischief-mongers," a senior IAS officer said.
Sait said: "As of now, we have zeroed in on churidar-kurta and salwar-kameez along with dupatta as alternatives. We will soon take a decision on which of these will be the dress code."
The move will impact a whopping 6.5 lakh girls studying in the eighth, ninth and tenth standards in government schools as well as government-aided schools. The new uniforms will come into effect from the coming academic year.
Speaking to The Times of India, primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait explained: "The change in the dress code has been taken with a view to building confidence among girl children and to protect their rights. In fact, there had been demands from parents of girl children to change school uniforms"
Currently, high school girls in the state wear skirts and shirts. While students in the state-run schools are supplied with uniforms by the government those studying in aided schools are supposed to purchase the uniforms prescribed by their respective schools.
The decision to replace the skirt-shirt uniforms was also endorsed by chief minister Siddaramaiah during a review meeting of the primary and secondary education department on Friday morning. According to sources in the bureaucracy, the move comes in the backdrop of a few untoward incidents that had been reported recently in the rural areas, where girl students have been subjected to eve-teasing and abuse while on their way to school or returning home.
"This is definitely not a move geared at curbing the freedom of choice, but to ensure protection to school-going girls, especially at a time when the proliferation of smartphones and the social dangers associated with it are high. The move comes as a breather even for parents as school girls will not attract unnecessary attention from mischief-mongers," a senior IAS officer said.
Sait said: "As of now, we have zeroed in on churidar-kurta and salwar-kameez along with dupatta as alternatives. We will soon take a decision on which of these will be the dress code."