No salwar kameez here

 

 

School teachers have been banned from wearing salwar-kameez. This fatwa has not been issued in Afghanistan. It has been invoked in a Kolkata suburb, in a state where progressive communists have been at the helm for more than 30 years.

The authorities of Bankrahat Girls High School (Thakurpukur, Parganas district) have barred teachers from wearing salwar-kameez. It is not decent enough for an educational institution, they say. Teachers should be seen only in sarees when they are in school, says the fatwa, quite incredibly. Strange but true. This traditional Northern Indian dress has become the cause of a full scale row over which battle lines have been drawn. On one hand are the teachers who refuse to bow before the mindless violation of their personal freedom. On the other side are the authorities, some students and their parents. The enforcers have already gone to the extent of locking eight teachers inside the school building, while they shouted slogans outside in support of the ban. A large number of local residents also joined the agitation, virtually gheraoed the school premises and pelted stones at the teachers.

Finally, the police came and resorted to a lathicharge to release the confined teachers. Eight agitators were detained, three of whom have been taken into custody. Surprisingly, no political party has come out openly against this violation of human rights. This includes the CPI (M), which adopts a low profile on these issues in its own backyard, but makes a big issue of it once out of the states where it is in power. Protesting the lathicharge on the agitators, a 12-hour bandh was also called by local Trinamul Congress.

But the teachers have refused to relent. They met Partha Dey, West Bengal Minister for School Education, and sought government intervention. Showing “deep concern” over the incident, the minister expressed “solidarity” with the teachers. Dey merely advised the teachers to stay away from school till the tension was defused.