COURTESY HT JAN 14
Govt seeks free uniform for students of all classes
Besides Punjab, six other states have also requested the Centre for expansion of the scheme to children of remaining classes
Navneet Sharma
navneetsharma@hindustantimes.com
CHANDIGARH : The Punjab government has urged the Centre to extend the free school uniform facility to students of pre-primary and secondary classes in government schools.
The state school education department, which provides two sets of free uniform to nearly 13 lakh students of classes 1 to 8 in government schools each year under the centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, made the request to the Union education ministry at a meeting held last month on the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. “The entitlement of uniform should be extended for all categories of underprivileged students in government schools,” the department told the central ministry in its presentation.
Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, all girls and children from scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and below poverty line (BPL) families are entitled to two sets of free uniform, including shoes, each year under the flagship education programme. Since the RTE Act covers the students of elementary level only, funds were sanctioned for 13.59 lakh students of class 1 to 8, including 7.63 lakh girls, 5.11 lakh SC boys and 85,258 boys from BPL families, free uniform for them at the rate of Rs 600 per child in the current fiscal.
“There are another 3 lakh children enrolled at pre-primary level and 7 lakh in classes 9 to 12, but free uniform is not provided to them. As many of them belong to the underprivileged sections, a request has been made to the ministry to extend the facility to them as well,” said a school education department official. The state authorities had started pre-primary classes in government schools in 2017. The Union education ministry has also proposed to increase the annual school uniform allowance from ₹600 to ₹700 per student from the financial year 2020-21.
A school education department official said the fund allocation was not adequate to provide two sets of uniform to children. “We have given our suggestions. The revised norms have still not been finalised by the central ministry,” he said.
The state government has been seeking an increase in the amount from time to time. Besides Punjab, six other states, including Haryana, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, have also requested the Centre for its expansion to the children of remaining classes and categories in government schools