After furore, Pune school rescinds order on girls' underwear

After a massive uproar, a prominent private co-education school here withdrew its bizarre order mandating all girl students to wear only white or beige underwear on campus, an official said here on Friday.

The orders, which 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 girls to sport only "white or beige inner-wears" under their skirts from the current academic year.

The school management sought to justify the same on grounds of safety of the girl students. Parents were required to adhere to this by signing a diary daily, failing which the violators could face action.

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 afternoon and ruled in favour of the parents and student community.

They directed the MITVGS management to immediately withdraw its order and the compulsory diary entry, to which the latter complied.

In a statement, the school management unconditionally rescinded its earlier orders, contending that "it was student-centric, intended in the best interests of the student community and not to hurt individual or group sentiments".

--IANS

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