No new uniforms for I-Day parade for 15,000 PMC school students
It’s been two months since the academic year has begun and yet at least 20 per cent of the 85,000-odd students in PMC-run schools across the city are yet to get their uniforms.
3 min read
The tender process for purchase of school uniforms began in April and went on for a month.
For the 170 girls studying in Pune Municipal Corporation-run school no 59 G at Ramwadi on Nagar Road, there is no freedom from tattered school uniforms on Independence Day.
Even as 70,000 students of PMC run schools will don new uniforms and carry new bags to school for I-day celebrations, these 170 girls are part of the 15,000-odd students in the city who are yet to be given school uniforms or bags and come to school wearing the same old tattered uniforms of previous years.
It’s been two months since the academic year has begun and yet at least 20 per cent of the 85,000-odd students in PMC-run schools across the city are yet to get their uniforms. And only 50,000 of them have received school bags.
“We are fed up of constant follow-ups with the education board. They keep giving us assurances only. At the school level, parents come and ask us when children of other schools have got it, why not their children. Now, is this in our hands?,” says the principal of a PMC-run principal.
The tender process for purchase of school uniforms began in April and went on for a month. By first week of June, the tender was finalised and on June 11, the standing committee gave its go-ahead. A maximum deadline of 60 days was given to the company for supply. In a recent meeting of the standing committee, additional commissioner Rajendra Jagtap had promised that the supply would be done by July 31.
“Yes, we know that the deadline has elapsed and that’s why we have already issued a notice to the company that was awarded the tender for supply of uniforms. In fact, this is the second notice. Currently, about 20 per cent of students are yet to get the uniforms. We hope that in the next few days, even they should get them,” said B K Dahiphale, education officer, PMC.
While education board officials are aware of the delay in the supply of uniforms and bags, they also blame the timing of the tendering process for the current state of affairs. “Rather than giving out the work order on June 11 – schools begin in the same week – there should be some kind of advance planning.
In the month of December itself, we take stock of number of students and prepare a proposal for how many teachers are needed according to estimated number of students for the next year. At that time itself, we should start work for the tender process and by the month of May, we should have the stocks ready with us. After that, if there are any minor changes, it can be done by a separate approval but at least a bulk of the work would have been done,” an official said.
You May Like
