Alipurduar, Aug. 10: People of a remote village in Falakata block have set a dress code for lady teachers of a girl’s high school and threatened to lock up the institution if they don’t stop wearing salwar-kameez in seven days.

The villagers, mostly parents, allegedly created a ruckus at Bhutnirhat Girls’ High School today when they heckled a teacher and prevented her from entering the campus for an hour.

A crowd of around 100 men and women gathered in front of the school around 10.45am. They allegedly accosted, Kanika Aich, one of the teachers, and heckled her. “She was not allowed to enter the school for about an hour,” a sources at the school said.

The people cited “moral values” to justify the protest.

“Most of the teachers wear salwar-kameez, instead of saris. As that is not good for the moral values, we locked the gate of the school today. The teachers should remember that this is a remote village and not a town and they should come to school only in saris. If they do not do so in a week, we will lock up the school,” said Zakir Hussain, one of the protesters.

Bhutnirhat is 38km from Alipurduar and 4km from Falakata.

The Falakata block development officer, Susanta Mondal, said: “There is no hard and fast rule that the teachers will have to wear only saris in school. Moreover, there is a high court order that cleared the wearing of salwar-kameez by lady teachers. If the situation continues and studies are disrupted further, we will take action against the trouble makers.”

The teachers were upset that the headmistress did not come out while one of them was heckled. “She did not even inform the police while our colleague was being heckled outside. The office staff called up the Falakata police station and the school gate was opened around noon,” said a teacher.

Classes were suspended today because of the agitation.

Tanuja Bagchi, a teacher, said she and many others had to travel by bus to and from the school and they found saris very inconvenient. “It is very comfortable to wear salwar-kameez. The villagers’ demand is illogical as there is no hard and fast rule on teachers’ attire.”

The headmistress, Bina Roy, however, said the matter should be resolved through dialogues. “The villagers do not like the teachers wearing anything else other than saris. They often raise protests. I think the problem should be solved through dialogues. I have no information of any teacher being heckled today,” she said.