Govt-run PG college for girls in Bhopal introduces dress code

Wearing jeans, t-shirts or leggings would no longer be allowed at the Sarojini Naidu Government Girls Post Graduate College here, commonly known as Nutan College, as the authorities have decided to have a dress code.

From the next month, the students will have to wear salwar, kurta and a jacket. "We have decided to implement a dress code from the next month when a new semester would start. The girls have been making this demand for long," said the college principal Vandana Agnihotri.

The dress code would instill discipline among the students, as in schools, she told PTI.

"Some girls from final year had come to me. They are completing their studies. Their contention was they will have to purchase a new dress only for (remaining) few months," she said, when asked if there was any opposition to the decision.

College was yet to decide whether these girls should be granted exemption, she said.

Students from weaker financial background develop inferiority complex when they see other girls wearing expensive clothes, and dress code would avoid this, she said.

"Dress code would have several advantages. It would bring a sense of uniformity among students as some of them feel inferior when their friends come to the college wearing expensive clothes," Agnihotri said.

The Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India said the decision reflected misplaced priorities.

"Education system is facing a lot of challenges like lack of faculty and poor infrastructure. The decision would only increase the financial burden on students who mostly come from middle or lower-middle classes," said Vivek Tripathi, NSUI spokesperson.