Author:
Publications: The Navhind Times,
Panaji, Goa
Date: May 10, 2001
Traditional Indian clothes will
soon replace the skirt-blouse or tunic as uniforms for girls in Christian
missionary institutions in and around this ancient Hindu town.
The Diocese of Varanasi that has
direct control over at least a dozen schools and colleges in Varanasi and
seven neighbouring districts has taken this decision for a change in uniform.
Instead of knee-long skirts, girls in these schools would now be clad in
long grey-checked salwar-kurtas with a dupatta (long scarf draped on the
shoulders).
The decision is understood to have
come in the wake of criticism by Hindu groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), World Hindu Council that have been accusing the Christian mission-run
institutions of "polluting" the traditional Indian culture.
The Indian dress code is to be introduced
in the new session in July after the summer vacations. It would, however,
be effective only for students above class nine.
"Girls will feel more confident
and comfortable. Especially for those participating in sports events, the
new dress will hopefully allow better performance as they will be able
to concentrate more on the game than their dress," said the principal of
St. John's School (Marhauli), Fr Peter.
"Senior girl students are apparently
thrilled with the announcement. Parents too are happy about the dress as
outside the school campus their daughters were more vulnerable to harassment
in the Western uniforms," added Fr Peter.
The decision for the change, however,
was not taken overnight, as requests in this regard had been pouring in
to the Board of Education (BOE) in the diocese for quite some time. "People
were routinely raising demands for the more modest full-length dress instead
of skirts. So we decided to abide by it," said the board chairman and Bishop
of Varanasi Diocese, Rev. Patrick Paul D'Souza. He described it as a "unanimous
decision of parents and teachers."
D'Souza, however, added: "The decision
should not be in any way construed as a reply to the call given by Hindu
forces demanding Indianization of Christianity. It simply means that we
believe in adopting anything that is good for the larger community and
that we do not wish to arbitrarily impose anything on others." He felt
the change would prompt other schools to follow suit.
The diocese-run schools where the
medium of instruction is Hindi already had a salwar-kurta uniform for the
girls.
With the new uniform's introduction
in co-education schools in eight districts -Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Mau, Balia,
Bhadoi, Chandauli, Ghazipur and Varanasi church authorities expect a good
response from other parts of the country too. "At Bangalore, the nurses
of St. John's Medical College have already opted for salwars for better
convenience and the schools under the diocese of Ajmer have also switched
to Indian dresses," the bishop said.
