This Christmas may turn bleak for students in government schools across Ernakulam.
With no signs of a timely delivery of the second volume of textbooks, students are now left clueless on how to finish the portions for the Christmas examination, which is likely to begin by the second week of December. Teachers remained equally worried when The Hindu approached them to take stock of the situation on Thursday.
Fears of yet another derailment in the learning process came amid reports that the government owned Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS) at Kakkanad may struggle to despatch the 1.25 crore textbooks ahead of the November 20 deadline set by the Education Department.
“Schools in Ernakulam will get only 40 per cent of the 55 lakh second volume textbooks now printed by KBPS, if the society delivers it without delay. We should have started preparations for the Christmas examination from September 1 onwards. But the learning process has come to a halt as students have not received textbooks under the second volume,” said a senior teacher of a city government school.
Teachers in some schools are making efforts to resume classes by taking printouts from the versions available on the internet. They admitted that it’s not a viable option for the students, especially those from economically backward communities, to take printouts from internet cafes at the prescribed rates. “Christmas examinations are likely to begin by December 12. Going by the projections given by the KBPS, the first batch of textbooks may reach schools by November 1. But it will be over only by the end of the month making life difficult for students,” said a Principal.
Teachers said students in Classes 1 to 8 will be seriously affected owing to the delay in distribution of textbooks. There are several lessons that need to be taught before November. We will not be able to finish the portions, if the textbooks are not made available without delay, they said.
