The Kerala government has no intention to wilfully impose gender-neutral uniforms in schools in the State, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Mr. Vijayan’s statement, while replying to a submission on gender justice and equality by K.K. Shailaja in the Assembly on Wednesday, has for the time being put an end to the ongoing debate in the State on the government promoting the concept of gender neutrality in schools by introducing gender-neutral uniforms, something that had not found favour with the Indian Union Muslim League and many Muslim religious organisations in the State.
Mr. Vijayan clarified that teachers, students’ representatives and the representatives of Parent-Teacher Associations in individual schools should through consultation arrive at a consensus on the uniform suitable and acceptable to all.
He made it clear that it was not the government’s policy to impose any kind of dress code on anyone. All individuals, within the limits of certain social norms, would have all the freedom to wear the dress of their choice, eat the food of their choice and to have their own beliefs. In fact, the government was very particular that under no circumstances should these individual freedoms be curtailed by any radical stance, Mr. Vijayan said.
No instructions given
Every school in the State decided their uniform of choice at the school-level through consultations. The government had not issued any special instructions to schools on the choice of uniforms nor did it intend to do so, he clarified.
Creation of a progressive knowledge society was what the government was aiming at and this required a scientific temper and awareness. Attempts to impose dress codes on women could stand in the way of gender equality goals. The government did not subscribe to such radical positions.
Mr. Vijayan said that the government believed that all sections in society should be able to enjoy individual freedoms, regardless of caste, religion or gender and that it was the duty of the executive and the society to adopt an attitude which would not hinder such progressive thoughts.
The government would fully back all such activities which promoted gender equality in the State. Though the State’s past boasted many renaissance movements which worked towards the goal of gender equality and women’s rights, the propensity to promote certain regressive beliefs as seen in recent times in the State should be totally discouraged, the Chief Minister said.
Seating arrangements
Muslim organisations had equated the government’s idea of introducing students to gender neutral uniforms to an attempt at interfering with religious conventions. Media reports that the government, as part of curriculum revision in the State, intended to do away with separate seating arrangements for boys and girls in schools to drive home the concept of gender neutrality also led to stiff protests by Muslim outfits in the State. On Tuesday, the government dropped a proposal in the draft of the revised school curriculum that boys and girls be seated together in classrooms.
Though General Education Minister V. Sivankutty had announced earlier too that adopting a gender neutral uniform was a choice left to schools, the affirmation by Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly that the government would not be taking the lead in promoting gender neutrality had been hailed by Muslim religious groups.
