Ahmedabad: Primary students of the Ahmedabad’s municipal schools will get a free haircut every month as part of the local civic corporation’s ‘Ek Kadam Swachhate Ki Aur’ programme, a senior official said Sunday.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation inked an agreement with the International School of Aesthetics and Spa (ISAS), an NGO, to implement the programme which will see 1.25 lakh students studying in 380 civic schools getting a free haircut every month, he said.

“We have entered into an agreement with an NGO under which they will cut hair of primary school students for free. The programme will begin later this month or in the first week of August,” L D Desai, Administrative Officer of AMC School Board, told PTI.

He said the consent of the students and their parents would be sought, adding that men will give haircuts to boys and women to girls.

“We have started taking written permission from them as only those who agree to it will be eligible for the free haircut. Fifty per cent of students and their parents have agreed,” Desai informed.

He said that the primary objectives behind the move, as part of the ‘Ek Kadam Swachhata Ki Aur’ (a step towards cleanliness) initiative, was to inculcate clean habits among students and also to ensure parents of students, many of whom hail from slums, save money on regular haircuts.

“Most of our school students come from the slum areas and they do not receive regular haircuts for various reasons. The minimum cost of a haircut in Ahmedabad is Rs 70 and we believe this programme will allow the parents of these students to save money,” he said.

A barber was recently assaulted in Mehsana district’s Satlasana village after he refused to pay heed to diktats from the upper caste people to not cut the hair of those belonging to the backward castes.

Desai, however, maintained that in the city and in municipal schools, no was discriminated on the basis of their castes.

“For us every child is equal,” he said.

Officials said that chances of boys opting for the scheme would be higher since most parents wanted their girls to have long hair.

(Business Standard)