With days to go for schools to reopen, the several of the city’s government schools continue to remain in a fix over the procurement of summer school uniforms: their third attempt to attract bidders has yet again failed to garner the mandated response.
Even as the education department was recently reported to have stated that the uniforms would be distributed soon after schools reopen, sources in the department said that as many as 50% of the city’s 106 government schools were yet to order their uniforms.
With schools set to reopen on July 1, government schools (barring a few who expect the delivery of their uniforms in the first week of July) would now be unable to distribute the uniforms immediately.
A school head, seeking anonymity said that current session’s uniform procurement was no different than the previous year, when the schools distributed their summer uniforms in October, almost towards the end of the session.
“With July already approaching, I don’t think the students of my school will get the uniform before September or October,” he said.
Government Model High School-34 head Vinod Sharma said that the school failed to procure adequate response from suppliers even after floating three tenders.
{{/usCountry}}Government Model High School-34 head Vinod Sharma said that the school failed to procure adequate response from suppliers even after floating three tenders.
{{/usCountry}}“We request the education department to intervene in this matter and guide us on next course of action,” he said.
UT cadre Educational Employees Union president Swarn Singh Kamboj blamed the department and its policy for the current state of affairs.
“Despite delays in the past, the department made no effort to revise the policy or to show pro-activeness in solving the problem. What is the use of giving summer uniform to the students towards the end of the session? It is complete wastage of resources,” he said.
DPI (s) Kamlesh Kumar could not be contacted over the issue