raipur amid complaints against schools compelling parents to buy uniforms bags books and other necessary items from designated shops the school education department has ordered all the government swami atmanand schools in the state to ensure this practice is not followed while the complaints continue with regards to private schools as well the department is yet to take any measureprivate schools association president rajeev gupta told toi that schools should consider the economic situation of parents and fix a reasonable rate of the items we can advise schools to not go overboard with the price of uniforms so that everyone can afford themon condition of anonymity several parents have raised the issue before officers and the reporters stating that they were compelled to buy supplies from the shops designated by schools and these shops charged for books uniforms shoes stationery bags and other items at inflated ratesthere is no alternative for parents but to pay the soared prices because of the monopoly of such shops that serve as exclusive agents to the schools a parent complained that they were forced to buy a whole set of items even when they did not need the complete set of notebooks or the school bag another parent complained that they had to wait for two weeks for the right size of uniform due to unavailability and lack of alternatives till then the student had to go in civil dresswhen the matter reached the school education department principal secretary alok shukla confined the issue to the government atmanand english medium schoolsfollowing this a series of circulars were issued by all atmanand schools stating that the parents are free to buy uniforms from the shops of their choice all principals were asked to paste the circular on the notice board that the school doesnt force any child to get uniforms from a specific shoplarge section of parents was disappointed that the issue was narrowed down to only government schools while the crux lies with private schools dominance general secretary of raipur schools parents association manharanlal verma urged that the parents should be aware that they have the power to complain against schools and reach out to court and other agencies he said that schools cant force anyone to buy the items from the shops decided by themthe school education department on monday had written to all district collectors to ensure that schools follow the rules under private school fees regulation act and do not hike fees more than eight per cent in a year the other issues related to schools remain uncheckedwith schools reopening in conventional manner after two years of online classes due to the pandemic parents are still recovering the losses suffered due to lockdowns they are reeling under immense pressure with exorbitant fees and skyrocketed price of school items