Saffron uniform for Gujarat govt school in walled city

Saffron uniform for Gujarat govt school in walled city

RituSharma Posted online: Fri Jun 07 2013, 03:21 hrs

Ahmedabad : When Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s first English-medium school formally opened on Thursday in walled city’s Shahpur with 65 students, the school uniform stood out for its colour: saffron.

The children who enrolled — for two kindergarten classes and Class I — wore dark blue shorts and saffron T-shirts. The school will begin its academic session on June 10.

The school has three teachers, one for each class, and a helper. It will not charge any fee. The school uniforms, too, were distributed free. While, most of the children are from the economically weaker section in the Shahpur area, a few are also from far off areas such as Mirzapur and Khanpur.

Asked why the school picked saffron as the colour of the uniform, Ahmedabad School Board chairman Jagdish Bhavsar said, “We wanted to give a separate identity to these students and thought this to be a nice colour. There is no other reason or any political move behind this.”

The opening of the school was timed with Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s video address to 2.2 lakh primary teachers across the state to launch the four-day primary teachers’ workshop held under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The school has been named ‘Prahlad Patel Shikshan Sankool’ after BJP leader and the first chairperson of the Ahmedabad Municipal School Board.

“In 2002, the state had passed a resolution to name school buildings built by the Karnataka government under earthquake relief funds after former school board chairpersons. It is a small gesture of appreciation to Prahlad Patel who devoted his life to education,” said Bhavsar.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1126176/