Headlines
Facing backlash, Kolkata college goes soft on dress code
Kolkata, June 29
Facing a backlash over its
decision to impose a dress code on its students, the city’s Scottish
Church College has now urged its pupils to attire themselves considering
the country’s "rich culture" and the institution’s "glorious heritage".
Recommending
students to come in "unostentatious dress", the college authorities on
Saturday issued a notice proscribing round-neck t-shirts, short and slit
skirts and called for ‘properly wearing’ salwar-kameez and sarees.
However,
in a notice issued late Sunday night, the institution has invoked its
eminent alumnus - the likes of Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose and Manna Dey - in asking the students to dress according to the
country’s heritage.
“The College recommends that students come to
college in simple and unostentatious clothes suitable to an academic
environment, taking into account India's rich culture, and the glorious
heritage of this college, whose alumni include Swami Vivekananda, Netaji
Subhas Chandra Bose, Manna Dey, to name only a few,†reads the new
notice.
While the old notice threatened disciplinary action for
not complying with the dress code, there is no such mention in the new
order.
Besides banning captions/writings on t-shirts or tops,
the previous order said only full length trousers and "skirts well below
knee length without slits" should be worn to the college.
The words "salwar-kameez and sarees should be worn properly" also don’t find a mention in the new notice.
Claiming
that the dress code was an infringement on the students’ personal
liberty, educationists and activists had slammed the decision. A section
of students had also planned to stage a demonstration against the
order.