Ban skirts as school uniform, says BJP MLA

Jaipur: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator in Rajasthan wants the state government to prohibit private schools from making girls wear skirts as uniform, citing it as the reason behind increased cases of sexual harassment. Banwari Lal Singhal, in his letter to the Chief Secretary, demanded that girl students be made to wear salwar suits or shirts and trousers as uniform to reduce chances of their being subjected to lewd comments or harassment.

Singhal is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Alwar city constituency, around 150 km from Jaipur. "Girls either walk to school or wait for school buses at various points in Alwar. That is when they face lewd comments from mischievous elements," Singhal said.

He argued that most private schools in the city had skirts as part of the uniform. "It should be prohibited keeping in view the rise of social crimes against women. The school should have pant-shirts or salwar suits as uniforms for girl students," Singhal said in the letter. He said the proposed school uniform would save the students from extreme weather conditions too.