PESHAWAR: The government’s decision to change uniform of students in the province could not be implemented in most of the schools, said sources.

Officials said that uniform of students in most of the government schools could not be changed owing to various factors ranging from lack of interest by the government to non-affordability of the new dress code for majority of the students.

They said that around four million students enrolled in 27,627 primary, middle and high schools were still wearing the decades-old Shalwar-Kameez uniform of militia cloth.

Headmasters say students wearing trousers can’t sit on floor in absence of furniture in classrooms

“The authorities have replaced the Shalwar-Kameez of militia with the white cloth or medium grey trouser and sky blue shirt only in 547 higher secondary schools,” officials in elementary and secondary education department told Dawn.

Sources said that prior to commencement of the current academic year, the education department had decided to change the uniform of the students of government schools to have a pleasant look like the uniform of students of private educational institutions.

Officials in the education department, after deliberation and having input of the donor agencies, proposed three different types of uniforms for students of the government schools.

According to the education department’s specification, uniforms for the students in the primary, middle and high schools were proposed as Shalwar-Kameez of militia cloth or medium grey trouser, sky blue shirt and navy blue pullover.

The uniform for the students of higher secondary schools was decided as white Shalwar-Kameez or grey trouser, sky blue shirt and navy blue pullover. “The students would not wear cap as part of their uniform as they currently do,” said the officials.

They said that education department had empowered the parent-teacher councils of the schools to select one of the uniforms proposed by it for the respective schools.

The parent-teacher council is a school-based body consisting of parents of the enrolled students, local elders and administrative officials of the respective school.

“All the PTCs at primary, middle and high schools have preferred to adopt the Shalwar-Kameez of militia cloths which was already in practice instead of grey trouser, sky blue shirt and navy blue pullover,” a headmaster of a government school told Dawn.

He said that it would have been a better decision of the education department if the option of white Shalwar-Kameez was also given to the PTCs along with the militia and trouser and shirt.

School Officers Association general secretary Samiullah Khalil told Dawn that the headmasters had suggested to the government to include white Shalwar-Kameez in the given options.

He said that the association had also expressed concerns over not incorporating its opinion when the decision about change in uniform of students was taken. “The students of middle and high schools want to wear white Shalwar-Kameez like their colleagues in the higher secondary schools instead of trouser and shirt,” said Mr Khalil.

He said that trouser and shirt couldn’t be adopted as uniform for several reasons. The trouser and shirt was expensive uniform as compared to Shalwar-Kameez of militia cloth, he said. The acceptability of trouser and shirt was rare in the rural areas of the province, he added.

According to several headmasters contacted by this correspondent, it is necessary to have furniture in the classrooms for using trouser and shirt. A large number of schools were without furniture, they added.

The headmasters said that students couldn’t sit on the floor while wearing trouser and shirt. They said that the officials of the education department should visit the schools to incorporate the view of the teachers, students and their parents while taking decision instead of holding meetings in the five-star hotels at the expenses of donor agencies.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2016