For years, there has been a big debate on the pros and cons of students adhering to a strict dress code.

The topic of teachers’ dress code is now a hot issue

Wouldn't everyone prefer to wear sweatshirts and flip-flops to work? 

When you are a school teacher, such luxuries are completely out of the question. 

Our young students, their parents, our administrators, and the greater community all need to trust us to be mature, professional, capable, and competent.

Like it or not, our outer appearance is their first indicator of these inner characteristics. 

And with Aparajita Sarangi at the helm of the School Education, Odisha is going to implement Dress Code for Primary and Higher Primary Schools. 

From the Independence Day, 2010, the first phase of putting up appropriate attire by the teachers takes off. 

Schools in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur Education districts will implement the program from 15 August. 

Lady Teachers will wear pink sari and black blouse, while their male counterparts will be having black pants and sky blue shirts, said a Press Release of OPEPA. 

Ms.Sarangi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Department of School & Mass Education (DSME) is also handling the affairs of Odisha Primary Education Program Authority (OPEPA) as the State Project Director (SPD). 

OPEPA is implementing the flagship program of Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan(SSA) in the state. 

Once she took over as the Boss of the DSME, Ms.Sarangi has started streamlining the school education system, which is mired by corruption, absenteeism and haphazard method of teaching. 

And to begin with Ms.Sarangi has given thrust on dress code, which was a necessary one, felt educational experts. 

According to the sources in OPEPA, the new SPD has initiated talks with Educational Officers of Puri, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Deogarh and Balangir Educational districts to implement Teachers' Dress Code in the second phase.