MBMC school students still to get uniforms

Mumbai: It’s been nearly two months into the new academic year and 7,834 students studying in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) schools are still to get uniforms, shoes, bags, books and other educational material.

The reason being the sudden, unprecedented changes in government policies coupled with the slow-footedness of officials attached to the education department. This is despite government authorities talking about efforts towards upgrading the standard of education in civic-run schools to come up-to-speed with private institutions.

In a bid to prevent malpractices, reduce workload and cut down on delays in the procurement and distribution process, the civic administration, in accordance with government directives, had launched a direct cash transfer scheme by opening zero balance accounts of students last year.  

But the scheme, which gave power to students to purchase educational material and uniforms from outlets of their choice, was abruptly rolled back this year. With the process of inviting tenders still to take off, students are likely to attend school without uniform for more than two months. There are 22 MBMC-owned buildings, housing 36 schools.