Uniform, stationery sales plummet as schools remain shut

MUMBAI: Santacruz-based uniform manufacturer Mahesh Parmar is faced with a dilemma — he has thousands of school uniforms stocked in his godown and shops, but barely any customers so far.

In November 2019, Parmar had started planning for the upcoming academic year (2020-21). With thousands of pre-orders lined up, he hoped to begin selling uniforms from April, as most schools reopen either in April or June.

However, with the growing cases of Covid-19 in the city and the resultant lockdown, Parmar was unable to sell most of the uniforms this year.

“I have been in this industry since 1983, but we have never seen such bad days. Our entire business requires investment from our own pockets first, which is later recovered when the uniforms are sold once schools begin. But since schools haven’t reopened physically yet,

almost all of our business has gone down the drain. Our stocks are lying in godowns or shops, unsold,” said Parmar, owner of Arsey Uniforms.

As schools in Maharashtra remain closed for nearly five months, connected businesses are witnessing challenging times.

These businesses include uniform vendors, book distributors, stationery shop owners, and school bus operators.

While many schools under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) boards began their new academic year virtually

in April, schools under the state board reopened online in June. The initial few months, however, have gone into figuring the new teaching-learning medium, as a result of which most students are yet to buy school essentials.

“There are multiple issues which have led to low business. The lockdown and resultant restrictions meant shopkeepers could not sell their products. But even after they reopened, demand had fallen as most parents chose to make do with existing stationery and notebooks. As far as textbooks are concerned, students have access to PDF copies, which they often use for online learning, thus leading

to a dip in demand for physical copies,” said Narendra Nandu, president of the Bombay Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association.

As several parents are already facing financial challenges, buying school essentials is not their top priority.

“We bought a few textbooks and are using leftover notebooks from the last year. This year, we did not buy new uniforms because the school has not made it mandatory to wear them for online classes,” said Sanika Jain, a Borivlibased parent.

At Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School in Vile

Parle, students are required to attend online classes wearing their uniforms. “It is not mandatory for parents to buy a new set. They can use the old ones if they wish to. If they want to buy a new one, we have facilitated it,” said Kavita Sanghvi, principal.

Uday Nare, teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School, said students can wear what they like as long as the clothes are not too informal. “We have just asked them to wear decent clothes. There is no compulsion to wear a uniform,” he said.

Early this month, the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) also urged the state government to provide a relief package, claiming that more than 50,000 school buses and around 1.5 lakh bus staffers were in financial distress.

“It’s a bleak situation, with transport fees not coming in. In the absence of business, staff associated with buses cannot be retained,” said Anil Garg, president,school Bus Owners Association, in a statement.