As soon as Anandu received his new Std I text books from Education Minister Abdu Rabb, he hurriedly hunted for a chair among the audience so that he could sit comfortably and peruse them.
After all, this was the first time he is receiving the school text books for the new academic year even before the school began.
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Like Anandu, the four lakh students from across the State will no longer have to wait long for their textbooks, as for the first time, the Department of General Education, Government of Kerala, has successfully initiated the distribution of academic textbooks well ahead of the reopening of schools for the next academic session.
The Minister for Education, Abdu Rabb, inaugurated the State-level initiative by presenting the academic books for the year 2012-13 to the various student representatives (from Stds I to XII) at the SMV Government Model Higher Secondary School recently.
About 3.9 crores of books in 226 titles are the total set of books that would be required for this academic session. As per the scheme, books will be distributed in 12,102 schools through the 3325 school societies between February and April to ensure that they receive the text books on the day the results are announced.
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The scheduled dates for distribution of the books across the 14 districts was from February 15 to March 8. The main printing unit Kerala Books and Publication Society (KBPS) and Department of Posts, Government of India are actively involved in this initiative.
To determine the required number of books, the authorities had grouped all the schools in the state into 3325 cluster groups.
Each of the cluster society in turn submitted the necessary details regarding the required number and types of books to KBPS through online. Based on this information, the books will be directly distributed to the schools with the help of education officers in the respective region.