The procurement of the summer school uniforms for the current session is set to get late as most of the government schools have failed to get required response to their tender notice issued last month for the purchase of unifor ms for students of Classes 1 to 8.In Chandigarh, over one lakh school students from Classes 1 to 8 are eligible for school uniforms, which is given free of cost to them as part of the compliance with the Right to Education Act, 2009.
On April 28, 103 government schools uploaded their tender notices on their respective websites, asking the unifor m suppliers to submit their bids and price quotation before May 12.
With just three working days left before the scheduled last date, there are several government schools that have not got even a single financial bid from local or outside suppliers.
Vinod Sharma, head of Government Model High School, Sector 34, said that as per the general finance rules, every government schools need at least three bids from the suppliers before allotting the tender to a qualified supplier. “Despite public tender notice and special dispatches to the local suppliers, there is not even a single financial bid so far,” he said.
‘LOW RATES REASON’
As per the rules of the education de par tment, any one applying for the delivery of the uniforms will have to supply the unifor m below Rs 300 per set in case of Classes 1 to 5 students and Rs 375 per set for Classes 6 to 8 students. For many, this price ceiling is responsible for the lack of response. A government school head, seeking anonymity said that last year, too, schools faced huge problem in procuring summer unifor m as not many suppliers came forward due to low rates. “Since there is no change in procurement price this year, we are not sure whether we would able to give the allotment order on May 13,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}As per the rules of the education de par tment, any one applying for the delivery of the uniforms will have to supply the unifor m below Rs 300 per set in case of Classes 1 to 5 students and Rs 375 per set for Classes 6 to 8 students. For many, this price ceiling is responsible for the lack of response. A government school head, seeking anonymity said that last year, too, schools faced huge problem in procuring summer unifor m as not many suppliers came forward due to low rates. “Since there is no change in procurement price this year, we are not sure whether we would able to give the allotment order on May 13,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Swarn-Singh Kamboj, president of the UT Cadre Teachers Welfare Association, said the present guidelines issued by the department were uncalled for. When it purchased school uniforms on its own in 2011, it quoted a much higher price. “The de par tment can’t have double set of policies,” he said.
A head of government high school said that their job was to abide by the specifications and guidelines issued by the department. “We will convey to the department if we fail to get desired response,” he said.
Jaspreet Singh, one of the local suppliers, said the department was asking for specific blend composition, which was not possible in the price ceiling fixed by the department.
A school head said that the procurement price should have been between Rs 350 to 450 per set of uniform against Rs 300 to Rs 375 per set of uniform as set by the department.