Govt puts distribution of uniforms, bags for schoolchildren on hold

Kolkata: Following a message from the school education department, several state-aided schools have received notices asking them not to distribute school bags and uniforms. The uniforms and bags distributed by the previous govt had the Bengali letter ‘B', representing the Biswa Bangla brand, embossed on them. The new govt has already taken the initiative to remove the logo from govt websites and from prominent locations under the state govt.Most schools in and around the city received messages from district inspectors or school inspectors, asking them not to distribute the uniforms or bags they currently have in stock.Naraindas Bangur Memorial Multipurpose School headmaster Sanjay Barua said, "There are 145 bags in our stock, and I don't know what to do with them. We are waiting for further orders." Mitra Institution, Bhawanipur, headmaster Raja Dey said 80 bags had already been distributed. "We have our own uniform, so that's not a problem but we are concerned about the bags we have already distributed," he said.The former state govt announced in 2021 that the school education department would distribute a standard uniform in navy blue and white for govt and govt-aided schools from pre-primary to class 8. The MSME&T department, along with Tantuja, was tasked with manufacturing uniforms featuring the Biswa Bangla logo. Since 2022, uniforms were distributed to 1.5 crore students every year. In 2022, 13.9 lakh bags were distributed as New Year gifts to students of classes 1, 2 and 5. After that, class 5 students received the bag every year. Some school heads said textbooks for classes 11 and 12 are yet to arrive, and they also feature the Biswa Bangla logo.