The School Education Department in the district is in the process of supplying textbooks meant for free distribution to government and government-aided schools amid apprehensions expressed by headmasters about what they perceive to be shortcomings in compliance with the latest government directive that only ministerial staff should be engaged for the activity.
The directive states that ministerial staff at the offices of Chief Educational Officer, District Education Officers, Block Education Officers and the schools must be deployed for supplying the books to the institutions, and that the transport expenses will be met by the department. However, the school heads complain that their presence has been necessitated at the common collection points by the authorities in the district. Official sources, on the other hand, said the school heads had come on their own volition for verifying the numbers of books.
The school heads also complained that they had to spend substantial amounts to hire vehicles to transport the books to their respective institutions from two collection points: The Boys Higher Secondary School, Srirangam, and the Corporation High School at Moolathoppu in Melur, about four kilometres away.
A headmaster of a school in Tiruchi educational district said he had to spend in excess of ₹ 1,000 for transport due to the compulsion of collecting textbooks from the two locations.
Seeking to allay the apprehension, an official said the expenses will be reimbursed later on. A decision on storing a portion of the books at the Corporation High School at Moolathoppu was taken since a new building constructed there could be put to optimal use.
Meanwhile, department officials expressed certainty that all textbooks unloaded by the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation at the common collection points in Tiruchi, Musiri and Lalgudi educational districts would be delivered by June 30, the deadline fixed by the School Education Minister K. A. Sengottaiyan.
