St Francis girls get draconian rule withdrawn

The morning in the posh vicinity of Uma Nagar, Begumpet, where the famous college St Francis is situated, witnessed a flurry of slogans raised by the students.

'Sharm karo sharm karo usi sharm main doob maro'; 'We want justice'; 'We want dress code to be removed', were the slogan renting in the air outside the campus gate.

The students resorted to these steps as the draconian management, who seem to have an archaic mindset had imposed a rule, which if put in simple words can be termed 'silly' and 'bizarre'.

Since August the students were forced to wear below-knee length kurtis and if students who would not budge to this weird regulation, they were not allowed the enter the college premises.

Girl students in huge numbers joined the protest, which started around 8 am and lasted for four hours. When a response was demanded from the management, one of the faculty members tried in pass it off as an existing rule.

She said, "This is not a new rule. Since a long time, students were not following the rule and that is the reason, we have had to make it strict."

Students, on the other hand, have a different story to tell. "There is no such rule. We also protested in August where we demanded the management not to enforce a rule that is not in the rule book, yet, principal Sr Sandra had pressurised students by sending them back home if they found any student who was wearing kurtis that were even an inch above the knee.

The security personnel were rude and misbehaved with us by pulling the kurti and mentioning that we are not allowed to enter the college."

Seeing the gravity of the situation former students also joined the protest. One of the students, who graduated from the college said, "We never had such kind of rules. We were just instructed to dress decently, which is mentioned in the college prospectus.

The previous principal never forced us to follow rules that were not in the rule book. The high-handed Sr Sandra enforced this rule and it really disturbed the mind of the students."

Activists from different backgrounds also participated in the protest. Popular RJ Shadab from Mirchi 95 was also seen supporting the students by holding a placard, which read 'Wearing a below-knee length kurti, please marry me' was in good humour and it encouraged the students who were taking part in the protest.

Womenia spoke to a few students. "A month ago, Sister had announced that the NAAC Accreditation members would be inspecting the campus and hence we were asked to wear kurtis to college.

After inspection, our college was graded as B+ as they could not provide a few documents concerning students. In response, our principal enforced this rule that did not exist in the rule book."

The situation turned worst when Principal Sr Sandra refused to speak to the students and demanded them to apologise for protesting in front of the college.

The police, however, tried to convince the principal and asked her to strike out the rule which is wreaking havoc among the students.

After consulting the management and the police Sr Sandra made an announcement: "We will be following the rule that is in the rule book of the college and no other rule will be enforced upon the students."

Listening to this announcement a wave of cheer emanated from the students. The gloomy and angry faces now had a smile and an expression of victory.

"We are happy that our protest paid off. We are elated that we will be able to wear the outfit that we are comfortable in," the students said in unison.