Can there be beauty contests in schools and colleges? There are diverse views about them. While a judge of the Madras High Court has directed the government to ban such events in educational institutions, teachers, parents and students have a different opinion. The principal of a city private school said school authorities do not encourage participation in pageants. “We do not want students to be involved in any activity that promotes a concept such as beauty alone as a winning quality,” she said.
She is seconded by youngsters such as Vaishali Gopinath, a Class XII student. Her school hosts pageants and beauty contests. She says a move to ban the contests is welcomed. “When you organise such events, you accept the fact that students can be rewarded just based on looks,” she says.
Parents such as K.R. Nandakumar, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Matriculation, CBSE and Higher Secondary Schools Association, are also emphatic that such shows are unnecessary in schools. “Fashion shows and beauty contests should not be held in schools, which are there only to impart knowledge,” he says.
But Varun Teja, Cultural Affairs Secretary at IIT-M, says there is nothing wrong in such shows. The Indian Institute of Technology — Madras began including fashion shows in Saarang, their annual cultural programme in 2013. “We conducted the event on popular demand and during the programme the auditorium is full. It gives visibility to students. They get a chance to get their profile done by celebrity photographers,” Teja says, adding that the student council gets the institute’s nod for such programmes.
Meanwhile, Education Department officials say they are yet to receive the order of the High Court directing them to instruct educational institutions to ban beauty contests and fashion parades on the campuses.
Education Department says it is yet to receive court order on the ban of such contests
