Let us not get carried away on this preferred attire for mothers entering schools!

Both sides seem to have lost the plot on a simple matter of decency. As with everything Sri Lankan we use a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”. It is not the place of the Minister of Education to opine on this, and it is merely a matter for the parents and the school authorities to agree on norms, as it relates to their particular school, and NOT have across the board rules for the whole country.

It shows how out of touch most writers on this topic are: http://www.dailymirror.lk/116404/Dress-code-for-parents-How-incongruous-

Obviously most of the comments are in the English speaking media, as it pertains to the St Josephs and a Colombo notice, which sparked this debate and internationalized this, poking fun out of all context for the wrong reason.

Take the provinces outside of Colombo, and observe the movement of parents when bringing and taking kids from school. Remember, this applies mainly to small children, usually under 10 whom the parents escort to school or pick up with older children finding their own way, either by foot, school bus or push cycle.

What do you see? I have not seen ONE comment on this observation. Maybe you are all well off townies and I am just a small time villager. Some mothers cycle, and lately, I have seen mothers come in their motor bikes or scooters. Some even drive three wheelers. What do they do? They for the most part DON’T wear saris, and most often they are in skirts, slacks, and sometimes shorts, when alighting, to drop off or pick up their charges.

They then take a cloth (Redda) and drape it around themselves before entering the school, as it is considered appropriate to look more presentable and look modest when entering the school, than in their normal casual attire that they have to be in to run errands and ride these vehicles as a Sari will be too much of an inconvenience, unless they are the fortunate ones who are teachers or work in a Government Establishment, that requires a dress code.

So guys chill out, don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill, and permit our mothers to both feel comfortable, practical, and be able to multitask by being able to instantly change attire to suit the occasion, and use a practical solution, to cover their modesty. I for one believe that saris can be the most revealing of all outfits, that if draped in provocative ways can be the most offensive, and so please don’t inconvenience our long suffering parents in the hinterlands, by Colombo centric attitudes, clouding the real issue of merely being presentable in from of the public, which applies NOT only to mothers in this case, but also to fathers, who are held to a different standards but should not. 

IT SEEMS!