Strangely enough, boys, apparently under no threat from the mosquito, will go on wearing shorts, as many schools in Delhi don't allow them to wear trousers till class VIII.

Talking to Express Newsline Harsh Vardhan said, ``The new dress code will have multiple benefits, the mosquito bites on the foot and not on the face and that's why salwar-kameez is required. For the boys the dress has not been changed though it was relaxed during the rainy season two years ago, this time it's not so much of a problem as there is no epidemic,'' says the education minister.

However, he defended the decision, saying that it had been taken after gauging public opinion. ``Last year I talked to a cross-section of people during my visits to schools. When I discussed this idea with them there was no opposition,'' he said.

``Salwar-kameez provides dignity and grace to the girls. The new dress code which has been made mandatory in all the government schools from this session is more dignified than skirts,'' he added in defense of the move. Sources in the education department claim that the move would also reduce the incidents of eve-teasing around schools.

But the move has its critics. ``Skirts have been there as a part of school uniform since many years and I don't know of any incident of eve-teasing associated with it, I don't think this is practical,'' says S. Kanwar, Principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road.

The schools are yet to receive a copy of the order. ``We haven't received any such order. It's difficult to implement this kind of a thing and I don't think it is practical,'' says Suman Kumar, Principal, Blue Bells School.

Even the government schools have no information about the order. ``We haven't got it yet, but we'll implement it once we get it,'' says B.P. Singh, President, Government School Principals Association. ``Also we have many girls from Jhuggi-jhopris who can't afford a new uniform,'' he added.

Harsh Vardhan says that the order was verbally communicated to all schools during the middle of last session and he will go ahead with it.

``The new dress code for girls is compulsory and we'll go ahead with it...schools couldn't implement it due to obvious problems, so we are implementing it from this session and I hope public schools will follow suit.''

``For the poor studying in government schools, some help would be given,'' he added.