SRINAGAR: The J&K administration has directed all government schools across the Union territory to have signboards with the tricolour in the background and adopt ‘grey and white’ colour scheme for school buildings, an official spokesman said on Saturday.

Through a government order (GO), the school education department has directed all the heads of the institutions to install “signboards of a standard design with the tricolour in the background”, besides adopting the “grey and white colour scheme” for school buildings, the spokesman said.

An officer of the rank of deputy director has been appointed to district-wise monitor compliance with the directive. Schools have to complete the activity by April 30 and submit weekly reports to the administrative department, he said.

A senior official in the department said that a format for the schools to submit details of the progress has already been drawn up. “The initiative was started in February this year and most of the schools have begun working on it,” he said.

In January this year, the J&K administration had made hoisting of the tricolour a must for all government buildings on Republic Day.

Till the scrapping of J&K’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019, the erstwhile state had its own flag, besides the national flag. Its red flag with a plough and three stripes is no longer in use. J&K had also adopted a separate Constitution in 1956, under which it was permitted to fly its own flag, which it did till August 5, 2019.