Art Of Teaching

The social media is full of incidents in Karnataka dwelling on the wearing of hijab in schools. The current scenario is bound to spoil the secular harmony of the country.

Education Institutes all over the country have maintained highest standards without any bias towards any religion, focusing on quality education.

WHY IS UNIFORM IMPORTANT?

Different schools have different uniform patterns. Uniforms are provided to students so that they have a sense of belonging to a particular academic school. It is also a way to generate an individuality for the school in the public.

Most important, is that the uniform reduces peer pressure with regards to clothes. When everybody is outfitted in the same way, there is no competition and brings about a feeling of uniformity, belonging and oneness among all the students.

School uniform is not about fashion and that is why it is important and necessary for inculcating discipline.

In a country like India, we can see a piercing dissimilarity between the upper class and the lower class and to a certain extent, the middle class.

Uniforms are therefore most desirable to evade the entire notion of “monetary complex”, from which the poorer section suffers.

Now comes the idea of religion.

It is true that mostly all religions have some type of token mannerisms, that they need to follow. For example, the Sikhs wear turbans, the Muslims hijab and the round cap and the Hindus the tilak and orange dupattas.

I am speaking from my personal experience as an Ex -Principal without prejudice of any kind towards any community.

Every school has a school uniform code which is provided to the parents at the time of admission and also the code of conduct which has to be strictly followed.

Even then I faced instances where parents came and asked me that their girls have to wear the hijab. Some parents asked for mehendi applications on their hand and some for tilak on the forehead.

Now it depends on the expertise of the Head of school how to diffuse the situation without hurting the sentiments of the parents and the students.

I took a stand that girls could wear burqa and hijab till the school gate after which, they would go to the girls’ room and remove them before going to class. Application of mehendi and tilak on forehead were allowed only on special festivals like Diwali, marriage in family etc. with prior permission of school head. Sikh boys were not allowed to wear turban but they could cover their top knot of hair with handkerchief.

Also, it was brought to the notice of the parents that these special conditions were being granted as a humanitarian gesture as they had already signed and agreed to the uniform code at the time of admission.

I would further like to bring to the notice of one and all that there are minority institutions where the dress code as per religion is allowed. In such cases of extremism, it is better for the parents to think twice before admitting their children in schools where uniform code  is compulsory.

UNIFORM COMES FROM THE WORD UNIFORMITY and it is really sad to see that students are agitating against each other and destroying the social fabric of our country.

I want to stress that this is secular India and not Afghanistan or Pakistan where women are treated as third grade citizens. Enjoy your freedom but not at the cost of school discipline.

COME TO YOUR SENSES BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

A humble request to all religious leaders to come on the same platform and solve the problem before it shreds the communal harmony of our country.

We are Indians first and Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jew, later.

COUNTRY FIRST AND ALWAYS! JAI HIND