Rani G Kakshapati practices what she preaches. Every Tuesday, the director and principal of Shuvatara School in Patan dons a sari and goes to work. And she does so with pride. "In our school, wearing the national costume is mandatory on Tuesdays," explains the principal, as she adjusts the white shawl over her black blouse.

And sure enough, glance into any Shuvatara bus Tuesdays, or drop in at the school, and you see 700 or so schoolchildren dressed not in the unisex trousers-shirt combination favoured by most schools, but in a modified form of the national dress. The boys wear gray daura suruwal with a black waistcoat and cap, and the girls wear ankle-length navy blue skirts with pleats down the front.
"I wanted to drive home the point that you can look good and feel good wearing the national costume. I see it as a reiteration of our Nepaliness, not something to be embarrassed about," says Kakshapati. Nearly five years after the practice was begun, daura suruwals may not have attained the slacker-cool cult status of slouchy shirts and low-slung trousers, but Shuvatara students appear at home in their Tuesday uniform.

During lunch break, primary school students scramble around the playground tagging each other, while older students practice lay-ups on the basketball court. They've even learnt to be unfazed by the occasional slack-jawed stare. Says Vijaya Adhikari, an A-level student, "People are a little surprised, and sometimes we're even teased. But I'm proud to wear the dress. We stand out."

Initially, Kakshapati met with resistance from students and teachers, who were a little embarrassed, or thought that the idea was just really uncool. "But we've become used to it, we're actually quite comfortable now," laughs vice-principal Chandrayan Shrestha, who also wears daura suruwal to school on Tuesdays.

Kakshapati says there is another reason for the national costume to come out of the closet. "It's a lot cheaper, you can get a set of clothes for Rs 500." Every so often Shuvatara also holds national costume parades, and Principal Kakshapati is even thinking of allowing students to wear daura suruwals and dresses one more day of the week. Now, if only more schools followed suit.