KP govt quashes notification for dress code implementation in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai distanced himself and the provincial government from an earlier notification that declared covering up mandatory for schoolgirls to avoid potential harassment, ARY News reported on Monday.

Speaking on ARY’s current affairs talk-show ’11th Hour’ the minister said that the notification was issued by a district administration officer of the area, the government had no role to play in the debacle.

“The officer clarified that the parents of the school-children demanded the dress code to be implemented and hence she followed suit,” said Yousafzai.

Shaukat Yousafzai also revealed that the decision has been reverted, The chief minister KP has asked the education ministry to take back the notification, saying that the education officer issued orders without taking prior permission from the provincial government.

Earlier in the day, Peshawar district administration declared wearing veils, gowns and/or dupatta’s mandatory for girls in educational institutes to avoid undue ‘harassment’.

In an official notification by Peshawar District Officer Samina Ghani, students have been asked to ‘cover-up’ in order to protect them from any unethical, uncalled for incidents of harassment or incidents that could be deemed unethical.

The notification addressed to heads of schools (middle, higher and higher-secondary), stated that the matter was to be treated as ‘most urgent and important.’