NEW DELHI: Aiming to ensure uniforms are provided to students belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the Delhi High Court on Thursday said the city government should supply uniforms to schools, not money.
“We will ensure uniforms are supplied. We will monitor this,” the bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Subramonium Prasad said after hearing a group of petitions seeking essential provisions for such students.
The city government informed the court that it is providing books and study material, and from the next academic session, it would also give uniforms to the students. The government counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi submitted that from next year the heads of schools could procure uniforms from the market after a survey has been carried out and the cost approved by the authorities.
In the meantime, it would provide cash for the purchase of uniforms. “You are not supposed to pay in cash. This is not in compliance with the order. Compliance provides a tailor for a school or cluster of schools. The government will say I will sanction Rs 50 per metre of cloth. Heads of schools will say there is no Rs 50 per metre cloth,” the court said.
Appearing for private schools, advocate Kamal Gupta said a paltry sum of Rs 1,500 was given annually to the EWS category students which “makes a mockery of the EWS children”. The exact amount was also reimbursed to private unaided schools, added Gupta.
Maintaining that Delhi is not special and must comply with the mandate of law on providing aid to EWS students, the court asked why certain schools were providing uniforms to EWS students and why can’t the government.
The matter will be further heard on August 25. Earlier in 2014, the high court had said that it is the duty of the government to provide essential supplies to EWS students while expressing dissatisfaction after noting that out of 68,951 such children studying in private schools in session 2014-15, roughly about 51,000 children were without textbooks and uniforms.
