Mumbai: Educational items promised by BMC still under tendering process

Mumbai: The procurement of school uniforms, shoes and socks, sandals, and school kits is still stuck in the tendering process. So, BMC school students have to wait for a few more days to get all the educational items. Meanwhile, the civic body for the first time has decided to give Rs 270 to each student from classes 8 to 10 to buy umbrellas on their own.

The BMC provides 27 educational items to every student at civic-run schools. All these items are expected to reach the students on the first day of school. However, the distribution process has been delayed since the scheme was launched in 2007. All the civic-run schools started operations on June 13, but the students are yet to receive most of the articles.

The BMC claims that all the textbooks were distributed on the very first day of school. "The tendering process of other items such as raincoats, books, and stationery has been completed. So the distribution will start in the first week of July," said the BMC education department official. But the uniform, shoes and socks, sandals, and school kit are still stuck in the tendering process. "It is at the final stage, students will get new uniforms from this year," he added.

Presently, 2.98 lakh students are studying in 1,100 civic-run schools. The BMC has made a provision of Rs 7 crore for the distribution of educational items such as books, raincoats, umbrellas, tiffin boxes, water bottles, shoes and socks, etc. This year, the civic body decided to change the uniform and like the other articles, its distribution has also been delayed. The raincoats and umbrellas that are much needed in the rainy season are yet not distributed.