THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has started distributing around 23 lakh metres of handloom school uniform fabric in 48 colours to students well ahead of the academic year. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the state-level distribution of the uniforms and textbooks at the Government Girls Higher secondary School, Manakkad.
As many as 4 lakh students in 3,701 government schools will get two sets of free handloom uniforms for the next academic year, beginning in June. Around 23 lakh metres of handloom uniform fabric woven under the guidance of Hantex and Handweave has already been delivered to 163 educational sub-districts in the state.According to the officials, the weaving of handloom uniforms began in June 2017 with the aim of distributing them to the students in the summer vacation itself and all the ancillary works have been completed by January. As many as 3,950 weavers and two-fold of its ancillary work force were pressed into service to complete the task before time.
The free handloom school uniform project has also brought a lease of life to the traditional spinning industry and handloom weavers alone received over Rs 30 crore as wages and the state government has spent a sum of Rs 63 crore for the project. The distribution of yarn was carried out through the Central PSU NHDC and the woven fabric was subjected to quality test in various stages.
If around 2,929 weavers were engaged in the spinning when the project was first conceived, now it has risen to around 4,000, said K Sudhir, director of Handlooms and Textiles. Encourage by the momentum the traditional sector has received through the project, the traditional spinners who deserted their vocation in the past and new-age spinners are now flocking to the traditional sector, he said.
Meanwhile, the officer in charge of the text distribution in the state said the state could distribute textbooks ahead of the academic year as the department had taken steps for distributing the books around one and a half months in advance. The text books were dispatched around five months before the new academic year. The state government had taken steps to dispatch the textbooks meant for the students from Classes II to IX by the time the annual examinations were over and textbooks for Class X by the time the Class IX results were announced, he said.
The KBPS has already been instructed to print the second and third volumes of the text books and they will be delivered to schools ahead of the scheduled date. As many as 193.5 crore books in 187 titles and 64.57 lakh books in 66 titles will be distributed in the second and third volumes, receptively, and the work on printing the second volume is underway.
The state government has taken steps to distribute Braille textbooks for the visually impaired and specially adapted texts to those affected by low vision in the 2018-19 academic year. Anticipating more students joining the government schools in the academic year, the state government has taken steps to distribute textbooks from the buffer stock, he said.
I was also a weaver once, says CM
T’Puram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday struck a chord by saying he had spun handloom fabric and earned the wages for spinning during his school days. Speaking after inaugurating the state-level distribution of the handloom uniforms and textbooks at Government Girls Higher secondary School, Manakkad, in Thiruvananthapuram, he said there had been a delay of one year for applying in college after his SSLC examinations. During the time, he joined the league of spinners in his neighbourhood loom without idling away the time. Not only did he learn the art of spinning in less than a few days, he earned considerably amount of wages along with other spinners, he said. His words were greeted by the audience with applause.