Winter at peak, Faridabad students yet to get uniform allowance

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, December 30

Although winter started two months ago, students in government schools of the district haven’t yet received the grant for uniform.

The state government provides Rs 800 to each student of Classes I to V and Rs 1,000 to those studying in Classes VI to VIII for winter uniform. An official of the Education Department said around 85,000 students study in government-run 230 primary and 50 middle schools in the district.

Another official of the department said the academic session 2022-23 would end after three months but the students hadn’t received the allowance yet. Most of the students studying in these schools belong to financially vulnerable sections, he added.

“Some students are using the uniforms they had purchased in the past years while several of them come to the school in other clothes,” a teacher of a government primary school here said.

The government deposits the allowance directly into the bank account of each student. As per the department, around 20 per cent of the students don’t have accounts due technical reasons or not meeting the requisite conditions.

Condemning the delay in release of the allowance, Chatar Singh, the district president of the Haryana Primary Teachers Association, said, “Many students are wards of migrant workers. They don’t have local address proof for Aadhar cards. As a result, they are not able to open a bank account.”

District Education Officer Munish Chaudhary said she wasn’t aware about the reason behind the delay as the allowance was directly transferred by the higher authorities into the bank accounts of the students. The matter had been brought into the notice of the higher authorities, said an official of the district Education department.

Most from vulnerable sections

• For the winter uniform, the state government provides Rs 800 to each student of Classes I to V and Rs 1,000 to those studying in Classes VI to VIII
• The allowance is directly deposited into the bank account of each student
• Around 85,000 students study in government-run 230 primary and 50 middle schools in the district
• Most of the students studying in these schools belong to financially vulnerable sections