Change in colour of Odisha high school uniform kicks up a row

Officials said the new design may be implemented in schools where uniforms in the old design have not been stitched or distributed.

A year after the school uniforms for students of Standard 9 and 10 in government schools of the state were changed, the BJP government in Odisha announced a change of colour of the uniform triggering a protest from the opposition BJD.

BJP leaders had alleged that the change of colour of school uniforms to green is being done after painting all schools and colleges green under the 5T school transformation programme.

In a letter to the Director of Secondary Education, the School and Mass Education department wrote that students of Standard 9 and 10 would now have to wear new uniforms. Officials said the new design may be implemented in schools where uniforms in the old design have not been stitched or distributed.

The boys will wear checkered clay bake yellow shirts and red rust trousers while the girls will wear red rust sleeveless tunics over clay bake yellow full-sleeved shirts and red rust churidar. The pockets in the uniforms of boys and girls will be of chocolate rush colour, officials said. Two pairs of clothes, shoes and socks will also be provided. The uniforms are being provided under the ‘Mukhyamantri Chhatra Chhatri Paridhan’ scheme.

Reacting to the change in colour, former chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik said BJP is only interested in changing colour. "Beyond changing names of the previous government's schemes and colours what has the new govt achieved in the last 100 days," he asked.

Incidentally, the change in high school uniform colour by the previous BJD regime from blue and white to checkered white and hunter green shirts and hunter green pants for boys and checkered white and hunter green kurta with hunter green jackets and salwar for girls had evoked sharp reactions from BJP and Congress leaders who alleged that it was being done to influence the students towards BJD ideology.

BJP leaders had alleged that the change of colour of school uniforms to green is being done after painting all schools and colleges green under the 5T school transformation programme.

Congress leaders alleged that BJD was identified by the green colour, and the school uniforms were changed to green to brainwash the students.