Parents protest against ‘substandard’ school uniforms

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 16

Parents of students studying in Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Canal Colony, today protested against the school management and the Education Department, complaining that the uniforms given to their wards were made of substandard material and the uniform sets were incomplete.

The school principal assured the parents that their complaint had been forwarded to the district Education Department.

Davinder Pal Singh, Jatinder Singh, Neeam Rani, Bimla Rani, Seema Rani, Preeti Sharma and others expressed their dissatisfaction with the cloth used for preparing the uniforms.

They said the students had not been given sweaters and shoes, along with the uniform sets.

The parents added that rather than giving poor quality uniforms, the state government should better stop the scheme.

The parents also accused the management of not making the list of items of uniform public.

“When we asked the school authorities to show us the list of items, which must be given to the students, they refused to do so. We wanted to see the list to confirm if the students were to be given sweaters and shoes or not,” said Devinder Pal Singh.

Officiating in-charge of the school, Gurpreet Kaur, said under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), the state government releases Rs 400 per student as uniform allowance.

“The school management is responsible for getting the uniforms stitched and distributing them among students. The management committees try to give best quality uniforms possible within the allowance,” she said.

“While younger students have been given trousers, shirts, belts and socks, the senior girl students have been given salwar-kameez-dupatta set and the senior boys have been given trousers and shirts. This is the best possible uniform sets we could have given to the students with Rs 400,” she added.

The principal of Shaheed Sipahi Sandeep Singh Government Senior Secondary School, Parasram Nagar, who also has the additional charge of Adarsh Senior Secondary School, said the uniform sets were prepared as per the decision taken by the school management committee.

She said the objections raised by the parents had been noted and it would be communicated to the Education Department.