Rajasthan plans to introduce uniform dress code for school teachers: Edu dept

Jaipur: Rajasthan may soon follow Maharshtra and Assam’s footsteps in uniforming dress code for the school teachers. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is planning to introduce a uniform dress code for the school teachers in the state, a senior official from the education ministry department said on Saturday.

“The minister of the education department, Madan Dilawar, is serious about ensuring a positive environment for the students in the classrooms so that they learn proper values and cultures in life. Aiming to this, the department is planning to implement a uniform dress code for all the school teachers so that they don’t arrive in the premises with any casual outfit that also often leaves bad impact on students,” the official said.

The announcement comes months after Dilawar sparked a controversy with a public statement that “Many teachers expose their bodies. This does not inculcate good values in boys and girls.”

The president of primary and secondary teacher’s association, Vipin Prakash, said, “The minister’s comment is extremely disrespectful to the teachers, particularly the women. While minister’s focus on our dress, the schools are running with a bunch of vacancies of teachers affecting the study. He should focus on reforming such gaps rather than putting bizarre restrictions on the teachers.”

Addressing a gathering at Neem Ka Thana on October 16, 2024 while inaugurating the Upper Primary Sanskrit School building in the Nrusinghpuri village, Dilawar said, “They should think that I am a teacher and take care of the kind of dress they should wear and what they should eat. Many teachers walk unsteadily to reach school. What will the children think that drinking alcohol is good?

He further said: “Many teachers go to school swaying. What will the children think? That drinking alcohol is acceptable? Even the teachers come after drinking. Those who do such acts, they are not teachers, they are the enemies of children. It is a sin to call them teachers. Our conduct should be such that children can take values from us.”

“I see many teachers chewing gutkha in front of students. Some teachers arrive late to school, and when asked, they claim they arrived on time. Many of them also use mobile phones inside the classrooms disturbing the children’s study which we have now restricted,” Dilawar added.

An official from Dilawar’s office said that a meeting in this regard took place with chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma in November 2024. “The CM directed us to prepare the dress code for the school teachers in both the government and private school. He also asked to conduct a survey across the schools and consult the proposal with the school authorities on how it can be implemented.”

If the policy is introduced, Rajasthan will be third such state in India implementing such a uniform dress code for the school teachers.

Earlier, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in Assam and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction in Maharashtra introduced policies directing female teachers to wear sarees or salwar-kameez in schools, and male teachers to tuck in their shirts. Assam implemented this in August 2023, while Maharashtra followed in March 2024.

Also Read: ‘Formal clothes, sober colours’: Assam govt issues dress code for school teachers

Both states gave schools the freedom to choose the colour of their uniforms, while recommending a preference for “light colours.”

In Rajasthan, former CM Vaaundhara Raje-led government had also planned to introduce the dress code for the school staff comprising teachers, principals, and administrative staff, including district education officers to bring ‘discipline and infuse professionalism’ in 2017.

However, the policy was not implemented that time.

The officer from Dilawar’s office had meanwhile said that the Rajasthan government is consulting their plan with Assam and Maharashtra to figure how the policy should be implemented.

“Every space has its own culture and a dress code. What we wear in any family function or in a party cannot be worn in the schools or in any professional space. The outfits in the functions also vary considering the space whether it is at family premises or at any friend’s place. This culture holds some values that the children need to learn,” said the official, adding that during a surprise inspection, many teachers were found arriving the schools in Jeans and T-Shirts or any casual dress.

“Schools is a serious space. What will our students learn from them? The women teachers stay more connected to the children by their default motherly nature and therefore they should be more careful about their clothing. We feel, Saree or a Salwar Kameez would be good for their dress codes,” he said.

He added, “Uniform dress code will bring discipline and infuse professionalism. It’s sometimes difficult to monitor teachers’ activities and clothing in the schools. However, we are doing more frequent inspections in the schools and trying to set up a better monitoring system and taking action. We have plan to implement stringent actions against the teachers who will not follow the clothing code or any others guidelines such as no usage of phones in the class, or offering religious prayers during the school-time.”