India: Teachers have every right to dress as per their comfort while working, Kerala minister says

The choice of dressing is a personal matter and no one has the right to criticise or interfere in sartorial choices, asserted R. Bindu, Kerala’s higher education minister, after news emerged that some schools in the state were insisting that saris must be worn by women teachers.

"Teachers have every right to dress as per their comfort in Kerala regardless of the kind of institutes they work at,” said Bindu.

“This practice of imposing sari on our teachers is not conducive to Kerala's progressive attitude.”

The higher education department also issued a circular on Friday that teachers had every right to dress as per their comfort, regardless of the institute they work at.

The minister said that when she was teaching at the Kerala Varma college, she used to wear churidars regularly. “Happened to talk to a young lecturer a few days ago,” the minister tweeted on Friday.

“She was telling me about an experience she had at an edu institute in Kodungallur about a month ago. Though she has the necessary qualifications, the staff apparently put forward a condition that she had to wear a sari.”

• India