The Times of India         07.12.2010

PCMC school students to get uniforms by end of academic yr

PUNE: The school board of the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation is set to achieve a dubious hat trick of distributing educational material late. In the previous academic year, the board had dispensed raincoats after monsoon and sweaters in the monsoon this year. Now, the physical training (PT) uniforms for students of std I to std VII are likely to be distributed as the current academic year nears completion.

Notably, the municipal school board chief had assured at the beginning of the academic year that care will be taken to ensure that all educational material, including raincoats, sweaters, uniforms and books, will be given to students at the beginning of the academic year.

The school board, which should have started purchase of PT uniforms before the start of the academic year, recently issued tenders for supplying 46,435 uniforms estimated to cost Rs 1.37 crore. "The bids have to be submitted by December 21," said Arjun Thakre, outgoing chairman of the school board on Monday. He claimed that the uniforms will be distributed this month itself, but it seems highly unlikely.

The supplier has to be selected first, the uniform samples submitted by him have to be tested in a laboratory to check quality and approved, before a work order can be given. The tender itself gives two months to the supplier to provide the uniforms. The supplier will then start making the uniforms as per measurements, provided that tenders do not have to be called again.

In between, the new chairman of the school board has to be elected which will take some more time. Observers feel that it will be March by when the PT uniforms will actually reach the end users. Thakre, however, said, "We will start distributing uniforms by the end of December and complete the work in January."

When asked why the tender process has been delayed, Thakre said, "The school board had made a provision of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore in the draft budget for 2009-10 but the municipal commissioner reduced the allocation to zero. It took the school board members one year to convince the administration about the need to purchase PT uniforms. Further, the introduction of e-tendering was initiated which required time."

Reiterating the promise of giving the educational material at the beginning of the academic year in June 2011, Thakre said, "The school board has taken a decision in November that distribution of educational items will be done from June next year. We know the tender specifications about purchases of various items so we will invite the bids soon and work order will be given by March 2011. The contractor can manufacture the items in April May during school holidays and start supplying the items to the school board in June."