After uproar, Pune school rescinds order on girls' underwear
Pune, July 5: After a furore, a prominent private co-education school here withdrew a bizarre order mandating all girl students to wear only white or beige underwear on campus, an official said here on Thursday.
The orders, which furious parents and social activists termed as "draconian and infringing on individual privacy", were issued by the MIT Vishwashanti Gurukul School in Kothrud recently, making it compulsory for girl students to sport only "white or beige inner-wears" under their white skirts from the current academic year.
However, the school management had sought to justify the same on grounds of safety of the girl students and to prevent them from being targeted by the boy students.
Parents were required to adhere to this by signing a diary daily, failing which the violators could face action, it had warned.
As a large number of embarrassed but angry parents protested against the strange diktat, Education Minister Vinod Tawde intervened on Wednesday and directed the Pune Director of Education and other officials to visit the school and inquire into the matter.
Accordingly, a team of education officers from the Pune Municipal Corporation called on the school authorities and spoke with the agitating parents on Thursday (today) afternoon and ruled in favour of the parents and girl students community.
They directed the MITVGS management to immediately withdraw its order and the compulsory diary entry, to which the latter complied.
In a statement this evening, the school management unconditionally yanked off its earlier orders, while contending that "it was student-centric, intended in the best interests of the student community and not meant to hurt individual or group sentiments".
Earlier, MAEER MITVGS Executive Director and Trustee Suchitra Karad-Nagare defended the orders, saying it was issued following complaints from some parents whose daughters were subjected to cat-calling when they sported dark coloured underwear under their white-coloured uniforms.
"In the past, we had complaints from some girls about unpleasant experiences faced by them, so instead of calling the parents of girls individually, we included the rules about the inner-wears in the diary," she told media persons.
Additionally, the management imposed strict restrictions on the number of times the students could go to the toilets or drink water and circulated a time-table for this, except for emergencies or medical reasons when the students would take prior permission and be accompanied by a buddy.
The school also asked the irked parents to sign affidavits on these undergarments and disciplinary measures, to which they hit back saying the "students were mature enough and it was not necessary or relevant to mention such guidelines in the school diary".
The toilet break was intended to instil discipline as some students spent long time there missing their classes, while taps were often left open or leaking, the school management had said.
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BJP to retain Assam, win Bengal; NDA to emerge strong in TN, Kerala, Pondy: Pradhan
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said the BJP would retain power in Assam, while expressing confidence that there would be a change of government in West Bengal, citing people’s continued faith in PM Narendra Modi and the party.
Asserting that NDA is likely to return to power in the union territory of Puducherry, he expressed confidence that the BJP-led alliance would emerge strongly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The counting of votes for all five Assemblies—West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and Assam—will take place on May 4.
Polls were conducted in a single phase in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu, while West Bengal saw two phases of polling on April 23 and 29.
On April 9, Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry went to the polls, while Tamil Nadu voted on April 23.
“Beyond exit polls, all of us who worked in the election campaign this time in the five states (four states and one union territory) are confident that the BJP will retain power in Assam and that, for the first time in a long period, West Bengal is heading for a major change,” Pradhan said.
Speaking to reporters, the union education minister said there is significant anti-incumbency against the TMC government in West Bengal due to alleged misgovernance, appeasement politics, and corruption.
“The people of West Bengal are reposing their faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the policies of the BJP and the leadership of the state BJP. I am confident there will be a change of government in West Bengal,” he added.
Pradhan said that, in all probability, the NDA (All India N R Congress–BJP alliance) will retain power in Puducherry.
“In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, I think we are all confident that our alliance will emerge strongly,” he added.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a thumping victory for the BJP in Assam and a clear edge for the party over the ruling TMC in West Bengal, while projecting a return of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu and a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years.
However, some pollsters predicted a big win for the TMC in West Bengal and a hung House in Tamil Nadu, with actor-turned-politician Vijay’s TVK emerging as a spoiler for the DMK. Almost all forecasts indicated a return to power for the AINRC-led NDA government in Puducherry.
