Karnataka: Parents, teachers complaining about ‘poor quality’ govt school uniforms

K Lokesh, a farmer and a parent from Tumkur’s Gubbi taluk, recently protested along with other villagers to create awareness on the poor quality of fabric being supplied to stitch school uniforms. The protest was a fallout of several students of a government school in Gubbi complaining about the colour fading away.

Lokesh said, “Despite the government giving enough grants for uniforms, the quality is not up to the mark. How can you expect government school students to wear such bad quality uniforms and attend school? We also reviewed the set of uniforms of the last three years and found that this year’s quality is very poor compared to the previous years.”

After the issue was raised with Nanjaiah, samples of the uniform were sent to the state government for inspection. According to Nanjaiah, the inspection report, which was out in early October, gave a clean chit to the agency that was given the tender to supply the fabric for uniforms. “The inspection was carried out with two samples consisting of the fabric supplied initially and the one returned by the students after wearing them. The final report said that the fabric returned by the students and the original one matched and the quality of the fabric is not compromised. We have communicated the same to the parents and the students,” said Nanjaiah.

However, Lokesh insists that the government re-supply fresh fabric of good quality to the students and withdraw the current lot.

Meanwhile, in districts like Chitradurga, teachers said that only one set of uniforms have reached the students, while the second is yet to be distributed. Moreover, funds for purchasing shoes and socks are yet to be released to the school headmasters. Almost half the academic year is complete.

A government school teacher of Chitradurga said, “The quality of uniforms is always a problem. The students complain that after a wash or two, the colour (blue) fades out and almost becomes white after repeated washes. The uniforms then turn into pieces of cloth used for sweeping the floor.”

Another teacher from a government school in Ramanagara said, “The quality of the uniforms, shoes and socks has never been up to the mark. Our school gets Rs 269 for a pair of shoes. It is obvious that we cannot expect good quality shoes at such a price.”

The teacher added, “Although we have not received any complaint from the parents or students about the quality uniforms, it is true that over the years, they have gotten used to wearing poor quality uniforms. Moreover, there is no platform to voice this issue because most of the decisions are undertaken by the higher authorities in the government.”

Vishal R, commissioner of department of public instruction, clarified that the quality of uniforms is based on specifications provided by the experts. “If you wash the uniforms continuously, the colour is bound to fade away after six months. That is why we are giving two sets of uniforms.”

Vishal admitted the need to improve the quality is a never-ending issue. “With the budget that has been allotted, the uniforms we are supplying currently is decent enough,” said Vishal.

Clarifying on some districts not receiving funds for purchasing shoes and socks, Vishal said, “This is more of a technical issue which persists in only a few districts. This is because certain block education officers (to whom the funds are released to) have not got their digital signatures mapped. Therefore, the treasury department has blocked the transfer of funds. Another problem is that the treasury department has sought clarity on the delegation of financial powers given to school development and monitoring committees (SDMCs) on how they procure funds for purchasing shoes and socks, maintenance among other things. We have taken up the issue with the finance department and will resolve it soon.”