Pregnancy time : dress for teachers

Abstract

A study conducted by the ministry of education and fashion design & product development degree course, Department of Textile & Clothing Technology of Moratuwa University, estimates that out of the approximately 236,000 teachers within the school system, 172,000 are female teachers. Among them approximately 10,000 female teachers request maternity leave annually. Even during their pregnancies, female teachers continue to wear the saree in order to maintain the dignity and respect of the profession. Considering the physical difficulties that pregnant women face towards the last few months of pregnancy, the Ministry of Education has introduced a collection of maternity wear for the teachers. The National project was carried out with the consultation of a panel appointed by the Ministry of Education that included the secretary of Education, Directors of the education Ministry, Gynecologists, Consultant Gamily Medicine officer of the ministry of Education, Principles of National Schools of Colombo, the Provincial Educational Directors and two senior academics of Fashion Design & Product Development Degree Course at the Department of Textile and Clothing technology, University of Moratuwa. The research, concept development, and product development of the maternity wear collection were carried out by Dr. Virajini Medagedara Karunaratne and Dr. Gayathri Ranathunga.