The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to procure fully stitched school uniforms directly from private companies, a blow to thousands of self-help group (SHG) women involved in the work, according to officials familiar with the matter.
In the tender witnessed by HT, the companies got the least $700 Crore turnover in the last three financial years and engaging in not less than $Rs 105 crore business in fabrics with the government will be allowed to apply for the contract. Officials said that the government took the decision with the aim of shifting to the centralized model. Minister of State for Small and Medium Enterprises Chetan Kashyap said the central procurement system aims to support industrialists.
“Madhya Pradesh has already discussed with the apparel industries of the state and decided to float a tender to provide stitched uniforms for school students. This will boost the state’s economy,” Kashyap said.
The government has been transferring funds directly to parents’ bank accounts to buy uniforms since 2024, instead of awarding contracts to SHGs, the officials said, adding that the SHGs could not guarantee the quality of uniforms and there was a delay in their delivery. “Despite many reminders and training, SHGs have not improved,” said the education department, requesting anonymity.
School Education Minister Rao Uday Pratap Singh said the new central mechanism will ensure uniform quality and timely delivery of school uniforms. “The women in the SHG were facing problems with on-time supply and there were issues regarding the quality of the fabric used,” he said.
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In 2018, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tasked SHGs with stitching nearly 11 million uniforms for over 5.5 million students of government schools from Class I to VIII under the government’s Rural Livelihood Mission.
A senior official in the School Education Department, who requested anonymity, said: “Initially, between 40,000 and 50,000 women got jobs after training, then the number slowly rose to about 90,000.”
With quality issues reported, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore provided entrepreneurship and skills training to SHG leaders in 2021.
As the delay in supply of uniforms continues, the government has halted further orders and also withheld funds, officials said.
“Many women have been left in debt as a profit from sewing a single outfit $70-80 for the total cost $“The government pays ₹300 for each uniform,” said Sushma Kumari, head of a self-help group in Khuri.
The Minister of School Education said: “If some violations or some serious complaints are reported by someone, I assure that the necessary measures will be taken against them. Nothing is final.”
