The colour of the students’ uniform from pre-primary to Class VIII in all government, government-aided and government-sponsored schools will be navy blue and white and the shirt and the kameez will display the Biswa Bangla logo, the school education department has announced.
The decision has drawn sharp reactions from teachers, who slammed the government for robbing schools of their identities and compromising on the safety of the students.
“The boys will wear white shirts and navy blue pants. As for the girls, those from pre-primary to Class V will wear white shirts and navy blue frocks. For the ones from Class VI to VIII, the schools will choose either of the combinations - white kameez and navy blue salwar or navy blue kameez and white salwar,” said an official in the department. The uniforms will be delivered to the schools from mid-April, two months after the resumption of offline classes, the official said.
An order issued by Paschim Banga Samagra Shiksha Mission, a wing of the school education department, says: “(the) outer surface of the pocket with ‘Biswa Bangla’ logo will be provided to the SHGs (self-help groups) involved in garmenting, for stitching on the left side of the chest of shirt and kameez.”
Once the new uniforms are distributed, students (till Class VIII) of Hare School have to bid adieu to white shirts and black pants, which have been the school’s uniform for 75 years.
At Sanskrit Collegiate School, white shirt and olive green pants have been the uniform for 100 years. A section of students at the school can no longer wear them from this academic session.
Saugata Basu, general secretary of the Government School Teachers’ Association, said: “There was no need to impose the dress code. The colour code of each school carries the identity of that school.”
A teacher of Hare School said: “Suppose a student has met with an accident on the way to school. It is easier for a passer-by to alert the school if it has a unique colour code for the uniform. That won’t be possible now for students from pre-primary to Class VIII.”