Girls can wear pants: School’s decision infuriates conservatives in India’s Kerala

A government school in India's Kerala has given birth to a row for allowing its female students to wear trousers.
The Government Girls Higher Secondary School in the town of Balussery has recently decided to let its students wear unisex uniforms -- shirt and pant, reports BBC.

Until the changeover, female students wore traditional shalwar-kameez and waistcoat.

But students raised the issue of girls having to dress differently than boys and that a waistcoat did not go well with Kerala's humid weather, said School principal Indu R.

Finally, the decision was made following a discussion with the parents in a parent-teacher meeting.

Many private schools in the state already allow girls to wear pants, she added.
The new dress code did not go well with conservative Muslim groups who claim their children are being "forced" to wear the new outfits.

Mujahid Balussery, a member of the Muslim Coordination Committee against unisex uniforms, told BBC that, a uniform change is part of the state's communist government's "agenda to impose their atheistic ideology on children".

"We cannot compromise on our faith," he says. "Girls and boys must keep their distinctive identities. Allowing girls to dress up like boys is like initiating them into free sex. It will lead to sexual liberation by ending gender differentiation."

However, Principal Indu says that the idea behind introducing the new uniform is only "gender neutrality".

"If girls feel more comfortable and confident in trousers and shirts, then they should be allowed to wear them," she added.

The uniform change also has the blessings of the Kerala government.

"The dress code and the entire system of schooling should change with the times," Education Minister V Sivankutty told the BBC.