Palakad : A Kerala school in Palakkad district has directed students to not call teachers by sir’ or ‘ma’am’ and instead use the address ‘teacher’ which is gender neutral. Senior Basic School at Olassery village which has 300 students, nine female teachers and eight male teachers, is the first in the state to bring such a directive.
The decision was taken after several schools in Kerala adopted gender-neutral uniforms for students.

As per reports, the idea for addressing teachers using gender-neutral terms was first suggested by a male teacher who was inspired by the work of a social activist based in Palakkad -- Boban Mattumantha who is campaigning to do away with the practice of addressing government officials as ‘sir’.

Also, last year, the Mathoor panchayat, located 14 km from the Kerala school, had done away with the practice of calling panchayat staff ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’, in the favour of calling them by their designation.
These two cases inspired the school to take their decision to introduce gender-neutral addresses for teachers.
The move was welcomed by parents and after initial inhibition, students also changed the way they were addressing teachers. 
The new way to address teachers may help raise more awareness regarding gender justice among students.

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