AP Government to provide free uniform to 9th, 10th class students

Guntur: As many as 7,59,574 students of IX and X classes in the government schools which are under purview of School Education Department in the State will get free uniform under Jagananna Vidya Kanuka scheme from the academic year 2020-21.

For this purpose the government has sanctioned Rs 80.43 crore for the procurement of uniform and to pay stitching charge to the students.

Principal Secretary to the government B Rajasekhar issued GO MS No.26 to this effect. The government will give a kit to each student which consists of uniform cloth, textbooks, a set of notebooks, a pair of shoes, and two pairs of socks, a belt and a school bag to the students of the government schools. The government is distributing kits to help the students of the government schools.

At present the students of 1 to 8 classes in the government schools are getting these kits under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. There is no budget to provide similar kits to the students of IX and X classes. Taking this into consideration, the government gave administrative approval and directed the officials to supply kits to 1 to 10th class under 'Jaganna Vidya Kanuka'.

The Central government will bear 60 per cent of the expenditure and the State government will bear remaining 40 per cent of the budget. Stitching charge of Rs 80 per pair will be paid to the students of VIII and IX class.

Most of the students studying 9th and 10th class in the government schools are children of daily wage workers. They are unable to purchase uniform, shoes and school bags.

When the teachers are asking for uniform, some of the students are not coming to schools. The government feels that supplying kits consisting of uniform, socks, belt, textbooks, notebooks and school bags to the poor students, will ensure their attendance in schools and the dropout rate will come down.