In a long-overdue move, the Maharashtra government has finally released ₹2.04 crore under the ‘Samagra Shiksha’ scheme, ensuring over 68,000 Nagpur district students will get their second set of school uniforms before Independence Day. But a glaring omission leaves 2,000 PM Shri schoolchildren out in the cold.
When schools reopened on June 23, the state promised two uniforms and textbooks for every student. Yet, with funds delayed, only one uniform reached students. Now, with money in the bank, officials vow the remaining uniforms will be delivered in record time.
This relief will cover 34,219 girls and 33,939 boys from Classes I–VIII across the district, totaling 68,158 beneficiaries. Maharashtra as a whole has allocated ₹80.20 crore for over 41 lakh students. This year, in a bid to end supply delays and corruption, school management committees have been empowered to buy uniforms directly.
But the celebration is bittersweet. Despite repeated letters to the Maharashtra Prashasanik Seva Prakalp, no clarity has come on including 2,000 PM Shri students from 32 schools. Their exclusion has triggered outrage among educators, who call it a discriminatory oversight.
Officials insist that all eligible Samagra Shiksha students will wear their new uniforms before August 15 — a proud sight for the festive season. For the PM Shri children, however, the wait drags on, with no solution in sight.
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