Students yet to get uniforms as half of academic session is over
Srinagar: The school education department has failed to complete the distribution of the school uniforms among the school children despite the passage of seven months.
The uniform was supposed to be distributed among the school children in the month of March after the reopening of schools post three month long winter vacation.
Earlier, the department claimed to start the distribution of uniform on May 20 and complete the process by ending June. . However, very few education zones in some districts have distributed uniforms among the students.
Given the delay in distribution of the school uniforms the school children are attending their schools in civvies and formal dresses, disrupting the decorum of the schools, a senior official said.
Already reported, the Samagra Directorate had outsourced the procurement of uniforms to J&K handloom department due to which it took two months for them to finalize technical specifications before finalizing the placement of orders.
“The decision to outsource the purchase of uniform to handloom or SICOP was taken after government of India raised objections over the previous process,” an official said.
However, the school heads from various districts complained that they didn’t receive uniforms for school children.
“The Term first exams are already over and the schools are yet to receive the school uniforms for the students. The current academic session will culminate in two months now,” said one of the school heads, wishing not to be named.
An official in civil secretariat said the distribution of school uniforms was already started in various districts but the process for distribution started late due to which all the schools were not covered till date.
“The procurement and distribution of uniform was delayed for more than three months due to which maximum students are yet to receive it,” the official said.
Secretary school education department, Sarita Chauhan said the issue will be looked into. “The uniforms have been distributed in maximum districts but we will see how many zones and schools are still left out. The process will be expedited,” she told ‘Kashmir Vision’.
KV Correspondent
