Don’t force students to purchase clothes for every festival, Bharatpur schools told

By Basanta Parajuli,Bharatpur, Aug. 28: Bharatpur Metropolitan City has issued a five-point directive to schools asking them to end the practice of making the students compulsorily purchase clothing for various festivals. The metropolis has sent letters to schools within the metropolis instructing them to stop the unnecessary expenses in the name of buying festival-related clothing during festive seasons. 

The letter states, “Complaints have been received that students are forced to purchase clothing related to various festivals, religions and cultures. Schools are requested not to do so, instead, schools themselves should manage clothing samples for teaching and learning purposes."

Rishiram Sharma, an officer at the Education Department of the metropolis, said that it was necessary to stop schools from making parents spend unnecessarily to purchase festival-targeted clothing in the name of teaching and learning.

He said, “Schools make parents buy costumes for festivals like Krishna Janmasthami, Tihar, Christmas and Eid. This needs to be stopped as there have been complaints from parents. If festival-targeted clothing is needed for teaching and learning, schools can provide them as samples.”

This problem is especially prevalent among students studying in institutional schools and Montessori schools. 

Kriti Nidhi Aryal, president of the Private and Institutional Schools Organisation Chitwan, said that wearing clothing appropriate to one's religion and culture should not be viewed negatively. He said, “Wearing clothing that suits our religion and culture can help in teaching and learning about religion and culture and should not be considered unnecessary spending.” 

Meanwhile, the metropolis has directed schools to organise welcome and farewell programmes on school premises instead of spending unnecessarily at the party palaces. 

It also instructed the schools to implement the local curriculum mandated by Bharatpur Metropolitan City and stop collecting fees from students for viewing plays and films outside the school. It instructed not to collect any fees in violation of the Education Act of 1971, its Regulations of 2002 and the Bharatpur Metropolitan Education Act of 2018.