Jayalalithaa makes chic uniform choice for TN students

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Students in government and aided schools will look smarter coming academic year, thanks to a personal interest shown by CM Jayalalithaa in choosing free uniforms.

“CM first decided uniforms would henceforth be maroon, not blue. She is also deciding dress designs. She is keen children look as smart as the luckier ones in private schools,” said an official who is part of the elaborate exercise benefiting over 92 lakh boys and girls.

CM had earlier this year announced a slew of freebies for students to increase enrollment and check dropout rate, particularly in rural areas, and allocated more than Rs 490 crore.

The kids will receive four sets of uniforms — earlier it was two — besides footwear, bags, geometry boxes and colour pencils when they return to school on June 1 after summer vacation.

CM decided boys would wear smart maroon-coloured trousers and light-brown shirts, while girls would don maroon skirts and light-brown dupattas. At the high school level, boys would be given full pants and girls salwar-kameez.

“The kids will look really smart,” said Sami Sathya-moorthy, general secretary of state headmasters’ association.

While Co-optex procured the fabric, thousands of women in industrial cooperative tailoring units would stitch the uniforms, a senior official said.