After Haryana govt's ban on jeans for teachers, here's a look at other bizarre dress codes

Haryana Education Department has issued a ruling banning elementary and middle school teachers from wearing jeans at work. The directive, issued on 4 June, is to ensure that teachers “set an example” for the students by dressing in formal and appropriate clothes.

The Tribune quotes PK Das, Additional Chief Secretary, School Education Department, as saying, “Besides banning jeans, we will ensure they do not come in flashy clothes, such as a red shirt or a loud printed one. Also, all the shirt buttons should be fastened,” he said. The orders would be applicable for teachers in secondary schools too."

Take a look at some of the craziest dress codes that have been imposed in our country:

No jeans, only salwar kameez or sarees

In 2012, Haryana’s W omen and Child Development  Department had given a directive to its women employees to be dressed in salwar kameez or sarees and avoid wearing jeans and T- shirts to work. The decision was withdrawn later.

Ruling since 1975

Adarsh Women College in Haryana has a dress code since 1975 that mandates girls to wear white salwar kameez on Mondays and on the other days they can wear salwar kameez of their choice. The dress code extends even to the staff. In 2012, they fined four girls for wearing jeans with T-shirts. The justification? “With the changing time, we have allowed the girls to wear jeans paired with long kurta, but these girls were wearing T-shirts,” says the college principal.

Entry only with ivory- green striped shirts

Another bizarre order came from the Surat Municipal Corporation . Their dress code mandated male teachers to wear ivory-green striped shirts with dark green trousers and the female teachers to wear sarees.

Say no to “immodest dress, sleeveless blouses” 

Last year, Nadakkavu , a women’s college in Kozhikode, run by the Muslim Educational Society (MES) put a ban on jeans, leggings and purdahs, allowing the girls only to wear chudidar and overcoat on campus. The circular stated the girls “shall not wear immodest dress, sleeveless blouses, short skirts and short tops.”

Dress codes for temples

The Madras High Court mandated a dress code for temples in Tamil Nadu from 1 January, 2016. Banning jeans for both men and women, the court directed men to wear dhoti and shirt or pyjama ‘with upper cloth’ and women to wear saree or half-saree or churidhar ‘with upper cloth’.

Can you beat this?

A college in Tamil Nadu, Sri Sairam College of Engineering , can take the prize for the strangest rules on dress codes. A circular titled ‘Big NOs For Girls’, goes into intricate details like ‘No banyan top type pant’, ‘No big size stud or ring’, ‘No very high heels or fancy slippers’ and to the extent of mentioning ‘Two sides of dupatta should be compulsorily pinned up’.

Dress code for parents!

Another engineering college in Tamil Nadu, RMD College of Engineering, has a ban on jeans. Not only for students and teachers, but even for the parents! When a blogger came to the college, dressed in denims, to give a guest lecture, he was turned back and asked to change into formal clothing before entering the campus.