Maharashtra’s School Education Department has come up with a scheme to distribute free shoes and socks to the students studying in schools being run by the Government.
A Government Resolution was issued on July 6, 2023, which stated the plan of giving free shoes and socks to students. The students of Class I to Class VIII studying in local self-government institutes can avail the scheme.
The government has approved Rs 600 per student for the scheme and will provide two sets of uniforms to the students, For shoes and socks, it has made a budgetary provision of Rs 82.92 crore, considering Rs 170 for the purchase of one set of shoes and two sets of socks for each student.
The fund will come from the Government’s share of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan, which got approval through the decision of the Government taken on July 11, 2023.
Technology Development Centre, Meerat, that comes under Central Government’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, has sent specifications of shoes and socks to the State Government.
The Government has further asked the regional head of the School Education Department to ask schools to buy socks and shoes as per the specifications provided by Technology Development Centre. It has made clear that the schools which have not yet purchased the shoes, socks should only buy under this project.
As per the officer with Nagpur’s Zilla Parishad, all girls studying in schools run by the body have received uniforms. Initially, all boys will not get the uniform except those who hail from reserved category and those who are below poverty line. Later on all boys will be given the benefit.
Some people have raised doubts about the quality of uniforms and socks and shoes. But the government has made it clear that it would take all care that there would be no discrepancy and the quality too would be checked.
All the items should be of the same standard. Of course, in its guidelines, the government has not mentioned whether students would get the item again if it is damaged. Considering the age of students normally, very few students are able to use all these items carefully. There are several students studying in Government schools who don’t afford buying the items again.