Educationists and politicians have opposed the West Bengal chief minister’s move, saying that each school has its own legacy. They also are of the opinion that adding the Biswa Bangla logo to the uniform is an attempt to politicise educational institutions
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered that all state-run and state-aided schools will have a blue and white uniform. PTI
It started with flyovers, road railings, pavements and lamp posts. Now, uniforms in all state-run/aided schools in West Bengal will be in Mamata Banerjee’s favourite colours – blue and white.
However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government’s decision to introduce a uniform code for all schools has caused many to see red.
We take a look at the controversy that Mamata’s new uniform order has created in the state and why people have been left irked.
Mamata’s new dress code
On March 20, the state’s school education department had announced that the colour of the students’ uniform from pre-primary to Class VIII in all government, government-aided and government-sponsored schools would be navy blue and white and carry the Biswa Bangla logo.
The dress code would be for all state-run schools from pre-primary level to Class VIII.
For boys, the dress code would be white shirts and blue full or half pants. For girls, from pre-primary to Class V, it will be white shirts and blue tunics. For classes 6 to 8, the schools have been given the options to choose between white kameez and blue salwar and blue kameez and white salwar.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the transition is expected to take effect in mid-April, when the new academic session begins, and will affect an estimated 700,000-800,000 students in Bengal’s 5,000 government-run/sponsored/aided schools. Each student will receive two free sets of the new uniform.
Explaining the reason behind the move, the government said that the new uniforms will be made by local self-help groups (SHG) which will generate employment for them.
Why the fuss then?
The government diktat hasn’t sat well with educationists and others. A government school teachers’ association on 7 April wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to reconsider her decision, according to The Telegraph.
The association wrote, “Some of these schools are hundred years old, some are 150 years old…. Keeping in mind Bengal’s ancient heritage as well as the need to be progressive, these schools devised uniforms that aimed to preserve our legacy and foster unity in diversity.
“The deep respect that students develop for their schools by wearing their respective uniforms… fills their minds with joy in later life, too. It is in this context that we request you to reconsider the decision,” reported The Telegraph.
Some school uniforms have become iconic over the years. For instance, the Kolkata’s Kamala Girls’ School’s orange-coloured uniform or even the bottle green trouser and tie of Cooch Behar Jenkin’s School.
Another reason for the opposition to the new uniform is owing to the Biswa Bangla logo. School teachers believe that the logo on school uniforms amounts to a form of state control and domination.
“It’s as if schools are being robbed of their individuality and identity. They are trying to bracket us all together,” a government school teacher from Kolkata told India Today.
The issue has also become political with the BJP accusing the TMC government of politicising educational institutions.
BJP’s Dilip Ghosh, as per an India Today report, said that making schoolchildren sport the Biswa Bangla logo is the worst possible thing to do. “Children are unwittingly becoming a part of an evil design of politicising education. Why should children be used to propagate a government logo?”
The All India Students’ Federation (AISF), a wing of the CPI, moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking a stay on the order.
An AISF member told The Telegraph: “We find the imposition of the colour code objectionable. Are the students brand ambassadors of the state government that the uniforms will display the Biswa Bangla logo?”
TMC defends the move
Amid the anger over the uniforms, Mamata had come out and defended the Biswa Bangla logo on the uniforms. She had said, as per a PTI report, “Biswa Bangla logo is not of TMC and can be used in the uniform of the students. Biswa Bangla is doing a good job and I want the people of the country to know about Biswa Bangla for which I want this logo in the uniform.”
Another TMC leader explained that the move was to introduce equality. Because schoolchildren from various socioeconomic strata will wear the same uniform, clothing class distinctions will disappear,” the leader said.
With inputs from agencies
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