Telangana govt school students begin new academic year in old uniforms

Uniform distribution in Telangana government schools has been delayed, with 19 out of 33 districts yet to receive cloth material. Only 18.5% of the required supply has reached schools, forcing students to continue in old uniforms.

Hyderabad: More than a month into the commencement of the academic year 2026-27, the government and local body students continue to attend classes in their old uniforms as cloth has not yet reached several districts, let alone the stitched uniform.

A document accessed by ‘Telangana Today’ reveals that 19 out of 33 districts are yet to receive the cloth material for taking up stitching, which otherwise was to be completed in the month of May.

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The State government, as per the document, requires 1.13 crore metres of cloth to supply two pairs of uniforms to students. However, only 21.01 lakh metres, which is just 18.5 percent, have been supplied to 14 districts as of July 23.

Districts – Jagtial, Kamareddy, Nizamabad, Mahabubnagar, Adilabad, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Karimnagar, Nirmal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Peddapalli, Mahabubabad, Rajanna Sircilla, Mancherial, Medak, Sangareddy, Siddipet, Mulugu and Warangal – have not received either suiting, Punjabi and pad cloth. Some districts received about 40 to 50 percent of the total required cloth.

“There is a supply delay from manufacturers. But, as and when we receive it, we are immediately sending it to the mandal level and then to the school point,” official sources said.

For the academic year 2026-27, the uniform colour has been changed from maroon, and red and ash to light blue and navy-blue for the government and local body school students. Further, students of Classes VI and VII have been prescribed pants instead of half-pants, while the shirt remains the same.

However, the KGBVs, Urban Residential Schools and TREIS school students have been provided uniforms for the academic year 2026-27. According to sources, as the maroon, and red and ash uniform cloth was readily available, the stitching was taken up and uniforms have also been distributed to students.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju who on Friday held a video conference with district collectors instructed them to ensure that every student in the government and residential schools across the State receive two sets of uniforms within a month. He directed them to focus on timely uniforms stitching completion and to constitute district and mandal level monitoring committees to oversee the process.

The Chief Secretary recalled Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s instructions that there should be no compromise on quality of school uniforms and that feedback regarding the quality of uniforms, shoes, and other school kits should be obtained directly from students.