Muslim women's college cracks down on tight jeans, short tops

Cracking down on tight jeans, short tops and leggings, a north Kerala women's college has decided to introduce uniforms for its students from this academic year which also gives the go-by to the 'naqab' for Muslim students.

The dress code will be implemented from July 8 when the academic session begins for the first-year students at the women's college run by the Muslim Educational Society (MES) at Nadakkavu in Kozhikode.

According to the new scheme, students will have to wear salwar, churidar bottom, and an overcoat. Muslim students have been permitted to wear a dark grey 'mafta' or head scarf.

College Principal Prof B Seethalakshmi said that the decision to have a dress code came after some students were seen coming to college wearing tight jeans, short tops and leggings.

"We cannot allow this," she told PTI. However, for the senior students, the uniform will not be insisted upon, although they would have to wear the same items of clothing as included in the dress code, she said.

Instead of a shawl, the students will have to wear an overcoat, she said, adding that 50 per cent of the students do favour uniforms.

The parents of the students, nearly 40 per cent of whom come from very poor families, have lauded the college's decision to introduce the uniform.

Meanwhile, MES state President Fasal Gaffoor said that once the uniform is introduced, it is applicable to all.

Gaffoor had last year courted a controversy when he said that the 'Naqab', or veil, used by Muslim women to cover their faces, is "un-Islamic".

The 'Naqab', part of the 'purdah', was a western import and its prolonged use blocks sunlight, resulting in Vitamin D deficiency in many Muslim women, he had said.