SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Oct 14: The School Education and Literacy Department in Jharkhand provides Rs 600 per head to school students yearly for all of their uniform requirements. The total uniform set of a student of a government school in Jharkhand includes two sets of uniforms (shirt+trousers/ shirt+skirt/ kurta+pajama+dupatta), shoes, socks and sweaters for winter wear.
It is worth mentioning that the state has changed the colours of school uniforms this year. Classes I to V will have a combination of Navy Blue and Baby Pink, while Classes VI to XII will have a combination of green and white.
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Meanwhile, school uniform shops including Dresswala state, “On an average, if bought without stitching, the green uniform set cloth piece would cost Rs 425 for one set of suit set (kurta+pajama+dupatta), while, a shirt-trouser cloth piece and a shirt-skirt cloth piece for one set of uniform would cost Rs 486 each.”
This means, that the Rs 600 provided by the state is able to cover just one set of uniforms for students above Class VI. Even though the prices per set of uniforms for the students of classes I to V would cost less, it may be difficult to buy two sets for Rs 600.
This is if, the cost of socks, shoes and sweaters is not counted. When asked in this regard, shopkeepers said, “The worst quality of thin sweaters that are sold at present would cost around Rs 250-300, while shoes on an average would cost Rs 200-250.”
A government school teacher, Suman Singh, said: “Several parents often complain regarding this, but nothing can be done about it. It is only the government’s decision to provide money for the uniforms. Parents come to us and often say that they could only buy one set of uniforms, or children wear older uniforms to school to compensate. We feel bad, but we can’t give them money from our own pockets.”
Arjun Kumar, a car driver whose son is a student of the Government High School, Bariyatu claims, “The money we receive is not enough. We sometimes have to give money from our own pockets to make up for the difference, if we want our children to dress properly for school. Else, instead of school sweaters, my boy wears my jackets to school as per need.”
On the other hand, officials at JEPC claim, “A yearly budget is planned for books, uniforms and bags, which is then distributed among schools or accounts of school students. The budget for uniforms is around Rs 250 crores, for books it is Rs 120 crores and for bags that are provided every two years, the budget is Rs 100 crores.”
Officials at JEPC further stated, money has already been sent to districts for uniforms, which are being distributed. As per data sent from districts every two days, a total of 21 lakh out of 38 lakh students have received uniforms. These include students that have been provided with uniforms. However, these don’t include students that have not received the sown products in form of uniforms.”
Notably, the Jharkhand School Education and Literacy Department’s former secretary before leaving the post directed officials to make sure that all children have the new school uniforms to use by November 15, ie the Jharkhand Foundation Day.
