The dress code of about 450 000 teachers could soon be under review to ensure that they look professional, the South African Council for Educators said on Tuesday.
Briefing journalists in Centurion, CEO Rej Brijraj said the council had instructed schools countrywide to hold meetings with all interested parties by the end of the year to consider the current modes of dress of their teachers and draft guidelines.
”It was felt that some teachers were not properly attired to be in the classrooms,” he said, adding that some women teachers were dressed in a very revealing way.
He said dressing accordingly was also indicative of the teachers’ commitment to their profession.
The decision to approach schools came after the council — a statutory body — was directed by the Education Ministry to look at dress codes after the department ”allegedly” received a number of complaints.
”We cannot say that teachers can dress in any way that they feel like. We don’t think that [to dictate dress codes] is an infringement of their constitutional rights. Once you have chosen to become a teacher you have chosen to abide by the demands of the profession.”
Each school’s governing body would set guidelines based on climatic conditions, cultural sensitivities and costs.
Brijraj said that while the regulator was required by law to act against offenders who did not dress properly for the classroom, it had to date received no complaints.
However, it was its mandate to investigate and make pronouncements on the ”extreme forms of dress”, which brought the profession into disrepute.
”We have not seen these complaints directly, these complaints have not come to us,” he said, adding that the council was duty bound to make a pronouncement on the matter.
Council chairperson Anthea Ceresto said breaching the dress code was not a dismissible offence at this stage.
”Is it a fireable offence? Not in terms of our code at the moment. It would have to contravene something else,” she said. — Sapa