New Delhi: Students across Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) run by the central government could soon be seen in Khadi uniforms if a proposal currently under discussion goes through.
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), the central government body that manages the KVs, is planning to change its uniform and Khadi is under consideration to replace the fabric currently used for the uniform.
The initiative is part of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations across the country.
Confirming this, KVS Commissioner and IAS officer Santosh Kumar Mall said, “We are working on changing the uniform for our students across the country and Khadi has emerged as one of the options that we are considering. We are also in touch with Khadi India for this purpose. A final call on this will be taken soon.”
Khadi is being considered because it is a more comfortable fabric as opposed to the synthetic mixed cotton uniforms the students are currently supposed to wear, said Mall.
“There was a demand from parents of students about changing the uniform,” he added.
There are over 13 lakh students enrolled in 1,200 KVs across India.
The Khadi push
Several education institutions are currently looking towards Khadi in promotional bids. Last week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) wrote to all its affiliated schools to ensure that students wear Khadi once a week/fortnight/month on a voluntary basis.
The CBSE note sent to schools on 1 October called Khadi the “heritage fabric of India”.
“Khadi… not only provides employment opportunities to lakhs of rural artisans of our country but also promotes unity and equality. Moreover, Khadi is hand-woven and hand-spun skin-friendly fabric that does not leave carbon footprint,” the note added.