THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The free uniform scheme for government school students covering boys from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, and all girls from Classes 1 to 8 has been disrupted due to the non-disbursal of Central funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme since the 2023–24 financial year, the state government has said.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty said that the state is actively working to resolve the issue. Under the Samagra Shiksha project, funds for two sets of uniforms per student are released to schools through the Block Resource Centres. However, the Union government has not released any funds to the Kerala unit of Samagra Shiksha since 2023–24, said the minister.
Meanwhile, uniform schemes funded entirely by the state government, for students not covered under Samagra Shiksha are being implemented without disruption. These include the supply of two sets of khadi uniform material to 10 lakh students in standalone Lower Primary (LP) and Upper Primary (UP) government schools and to Classes 1–4 students in all aided schools.
“Additionally, the state provides uniforms for boys from Above Poverty Line (APL) families in government schools and for all students in aided schools from Classes 1 to 8,” Sivankutty said.
He added that all state-funded uniform schemes have received full financial allocation. However, the Centre still owes Kerala around `1,500 crore under various components of the Samagra Shiksha scheme since 2023–24, Sivankutty said.