Odisha: Children outgrow school uniforms & shoes

BHUBANESWAR: Parents are not just worried over following of Covid norms in schools but also that their children have outgrown their uniforms and shoes during the closure of educational institutions for two years due to the Covid pandemic.
Bharati Parida found that the new uniform she had bought for the seven-year-old son in March 2020 is not fitting him any more.“My son has grown a few inches taller and also gained some weight in the last two years. His uniform no longer fits him and I need at least two pairs as they need to be washed everyday during Covid times,” said Bharati. She will have to spend a good amount on a new uniform, shoes, school bag and other accessories as offline classes resume from February 14. Those parents who have more than one child will be forced to cough up a sizeable amount
Shops selling uniforms and other items are also hoping for brisk sales. “In January when the government announced that schools would reopen schools for the junior classes, we had ordered a huge quantity expecting good sales. But we did not get very good response because Omicron cases started picking up and the government announced closure of schools again. This time we have kept our fingers crossed and are expecting good business in the next week before the school reopening,” said Manoj Biswal, manager at a uniform shop in Kharvela Nagar.
The parents also expressed concern over the rising prices of uniforms. “Two years back I had spent Rs 600 to buy a pair of uniforms for my children. Now the price has shot up to Rs 1,000. Amid the pandemic, this extra expenditure is certainly a burden but I want my kids to go to school because the learning loss was huge due to absence of physical classes,” said Ramesh Rout, a parent of two kids in primary classes.