Education dept issues tenders for remaining school equipment

THANE: It's the second term of the academic year, but the students from civic schools still await some of their study material that was expected to come at the beginning of the academic year. The civic education department has now called for tenders for the pending academic material. The tender will take 2-3 months to process, which is ironically when the academic year will come to an end.
The central and state elections hit the civic education department hard. As the model Code of Conduct guidelines were in place, the department could not take any decision or float any tender. While basic study material like school uniforms, textbooks, notebooks and water bottles were given to the students, the department is still to provide laboratory equipment, physical training equipment, scout and guide uniforms and sporting equipment.
"As it wasn't possible to sanction funds during the state and central elections, we couldn't call for tenders earlier. Once the code of conduct guidelines were lifted, we began working towards calling for tenders for the remaining study material," informed Suresh Gada from the civic education department
Tenders have currently been called for scouts and guide programme, sports equipment and physical training equipment. "The tenders are open to all and the last day for submitting the tenders is December 21," added Gada.
A highly placed source from the civic education department informed that, there would be a tedious process of selecting a contractor. "There is period of a month for the contractor to provide all sanctioned stuff. At this point, the student may not get all their equipment before the year ends."