Uttar Pradesh women teachers asked to do bridal makeup at govt-sponsored mass wedding

As teachers, they were expected to teach the children and help them become good citizens. A senior primary education official, however, thought otherwise and felt that they could also do bridal makeup.

Around twenty women teachers of different government primary schools in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharth Nagar district, about 250 kilometres from here, were directed by the education department to do the makeup for brides who were to be married at a mass marriage function sponsored by the state government.

The block education officer of Naugarh in the district issued a written order tasking the twenty women teachers with the work of doing the makeup of the brides for the function.

The matter came to light after a few women teachers registered their protest against the directive and uploaded the order on the social networking sites.

''We have been appointed to teach the children....it is not our job to do bridal makeup,'' said a woman teacher in Siddharth Nagar.

As the directive also invited flak from the teachers' unions, the government cancelled the order and suspended the erring education official.

''The order was issued by mistake...the concerned officer did not take permission of his seniors before issuing the order,'' said a senior education official in the district on Tuesday.

The order may have been cancelled but it certainly shows that primary education is not taken seriously in the state. No wonder it is in shambles.