Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has taken strong exception to the delay in distribution of school textbooks and called upon Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to intervene urgently to set matters right.
In a statement here on Tuesday, Mr. Achuthanandan said that though the school year had begun with song and dance, the Education Department had not distributed textbooks to children studying in Classes between I and X. Against 4 crore copies of textbooks needed for these classes, only 1 crore had reached school cooperative societies so far. It would take at least six months for printing the remaining copies. In short, all the students are likely to get the textbooks only by February, hardly a month before the conclusion of the school year, he said.
Mr. Achuthanandan sought to know why Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb failed to take steps sufficiently in advance to ensure that textbooks were distributed to students on time. He also said that besides the shortage of textbooks, there was also a heavy shortfall in the number of teachers.
Teacher vacancies
Although vacancies of 1,146 lower primary teachers had been reported till March last and a rank list of primary school teachers was in existence, the government had not cared to issue appointment orders to even those who had already been issued advice memo by the Public Service Commission. As a result, double the normal number of students was being accommodated in the primary classes, he alleged.
He asked the Education Minister to immediately clarify matters and initiate measures on a war footing to save the situation.
