A large number of teachers came to school wearing salwar kameez instead of the customary saris on Tuesday after the LDF government issued an order relaxing the dress code.

The new reform has not only altered an unwritten code which has been in vogue since the pre-Independence days but also brought about parity in gender rights.  There have been long-standing complaints from women teachers that saris were inconvenient as a workplace attire. The government order admitted that it was setting right a gender injustice that had been prevailing.

Male teachers were allowed to wear shirts and pants instead of shirts and the traditional mundu long ago. However, women teachers did not get a similar opportunity to change over to a convenient dress.
Known as a casual and comfortable attire, many teachers who switched over to salwar kameez or churidar straightaway said they were waiting for this day.

“It is not only cumbersome to move around in a sari but even difficult to wrap it around. I can even save time dressing up for school,” says Smitha Nair, who teaches at a private school here.

Some teachers think that switching to casual attire like salwar kameez might even have an impact on discipline. So many of them were undeterred by the change.

“I am not sure how the students are going to take this. The fact remains that the sari is a formal dress and churidar is not,’’ said Ms Mariam Mathew, a teacher at the Government Model High School here.

The government decision has also come close on the heels of the LDF-run Guruvayoor Devaswom allowing women to wear churidars inside the Sreekrishna temple instead of saris. The decision was also welcomed by most women devotees.