Kerala cites "right to dress" for teachers, sari not enforceable in colleges

The Higher Education Ministry in Kerala has issued a circular clarifying the state's stand on teacher's dress code in colleges after a series of complaints from teachers regarding several institutes of higher education. making sari-wearing compulsory for their employees. Higher Education Minister R Bindu said that the practise of enforcing saris on teachers was "regressive" and was against the progressive policies of the state.

"The government has already made clear its stance in this regard multiple times. Teachers have every right to dress as per their comfort in Kerala regardless of the kind of institutes they work at. This practice of imposing sari on our teachers is not conducive to Kerala's progressive attitude," Ms Bindu said in a statement.

The new circular was issued following the minister's meeting with a young lecturer who had to turn down a job offer due to the dress code imposition at the college. The Kerala government has issued two circulars on the subject in 2008 and 2014, with instructions not to impose dress codes on teachers.

The minister also said that the state's stand in this regard was that teachers had the freedom to dress as per their comfort and that any imposition of sari was against individual sartorial choices. Minister Bindu added that when she was still teaching at Kerala Varma college, there was no rule against wearing churidhars, which she did.

In 2014, another order was directed at deputy directors of education, district education officers, and heads of district institutions for education and training to see to it that no institution or school enforces a mandatory dress code on teachers. Several years later, however, women teachers continue to face such sartorial policing in the state's higher education institutes.

"Our women should have the courage to take a strong stand against those who try to impose skewed ideas of morality on them," Minister Bindu asserted.