Telangana schools: 55.7 pc students still without new uniforms

More than half of Telangana government school students are yet to receive new uniforms over three months into the academic year. Delays in cloth procurement and stitching have affected distribution, while students in several districts also await shoes, socks and belts

Hyderabad: More than three months have passed since the academic year 2026-27 commenced on June 15, but over half of the government school students still do not have new uniforms to wear.

While an indent for two pairs of uniforms has been placed for more than 18.36 lakh students this academic year, only 8,13,832 (44.30 per cent) students have received the first pair so far, forcing the remaining 55.70 per cent to wear old uniforms.

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As per the rules, students of government and government-run schools are to be handed a pair of uniforms, textbooks and notebooks on the day schools reopen.

Unlike the earlier practice of directly ordering uniform cloth from the Telangana Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Limited, the School Education department, as per the Telangana Congress government’s directions, this time joined the centralised cloth procurement process along with the societies of social, tribal and BC welfare residential educational institutions. This delayed the procurement and stitching of uniforms.

Given the delay in cloth procurement, the government set September 1 as the deadline for providing the first pair of uniforms. However, two weeks after the deadline, students in several schools continue to attend classes in their old uniforms.

The situation is alarming in Wanaparthy and Jayashankar Bhupalpally districts, where none of the students have received their first pair of uniforms, let alone the second pair promised by the State government.

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

Schools that received their uniforms complained of poor quality and said there was a significant difference between the uniforms promised and those actually supplied.

“The shirt fabric is thin and poor, and looks dull. Unless there is an additional lining, the shirt is not suitable for girls to wear. For the boys, the collars do not hold their shape properly. The promise of making a tailor available to make alterations has not been fulfilled,” said a headmaster requesting anonymity.

In addition to uniforms, there is also a delay in supplying shoes, socks and belts. Government school students in 10 districts — Hanamkonda, Jogulamba Gadwal, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Nagarkurnool, Narayanpet, Rajanna Sircilla, Sangareddy, Siddipet, Wanaparthy and Warangal — are yet to receive a pair of shoes.

Similarly, socks and belts have not been supplied to schools in 18 and 22 districts, respectively.