Teachers’ attire

The Department of Higher Education has taken quite an appropriate step by issuing a dress code for teachers of colleges under its control in Assam. What is more significant is that it has barred college teachers from wear-ing flashy and casual attire while on duty. It is a fact that a section of teachers across the state is into the habit of wearing dresses of their choice, which, according to the department’s notification, do not appear to be acceptable. A teacher is one who holds charge of a young person for the maximum period of time when it is awake. Even par-ents do not spend as much time with their children as teachers do. In the process, teachers happen to have the most impact on a young person’s mind. Moreover, as pointed out by the department, teachers are expected to be examples or role models of decency, especially while discharging their duties. Most parents would agree that a young person quite often refuses to accept certain things as told by their parents and emphasises what his or her teacher has taught. Given such a scenario, it is appropriate that the department has considered it necessary to ask teachers to follow a dress code that reflects a sense of decorum, decency, professionalism, and seriousness of purpose at the workplace. Formal trousers and shirts, formal dhoti-kurta or kurta-pyjamas by male teachers, and decent salwar suits, sarees, mekhela-chador, and other traditional attire, as suggested by the department, would definitely make the environment more conducive to imparting education. A miniscule section of people—and not all of them are teachers—have already taken to social media to oppose the directive and even criticise the gov-ernment for “imposing” a dress code on teachers. It is a fact that many people in our society do not know what to wear on which occasion, which is also why people should dress decently. There are several instances when bu-reaucrats, including senior IAS officers, have been reprimanded in the High Courts and the Supreme Court for ap-pearing before judges in informal T-shirts, shirts with flashy and colourful prints and colours, and jeans trousers. The issue of a dress code for Members of the Assam Legislative Assembly has come up several times in the past decade or more, and the Assembly has at least twice asked MLAs to attend the House in ‘decent’ dress. While the employees of the Assembly were last year asked to wear formal dress, officers have already been provided with uniforms. Dressing appropriately makes a person look good and confident. And when it comes to teachers, then students feel safe under a decently dressed teacher, which makes them more respectful towards their teachers and enhances the environment of the educational institution.