The delay in getting their textbooks in time for the academic year has become a norm, much to the dismay of students and teachers. With complaints mounting, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education hopes to reverse this trend by ensuring that from the 2020–21 academic year, students will receive their textbooks before their summer holidays begin.
H.N. Gopalkrishna, Director, Karnataka Textbook Society, said tenders for textbooks would be floated next week. The process normally is done in November–December and printers who bag the work orders are given four months to supply the textbooks.
With the process advanced, the Department of Public Instruction hopes that the printing of the textbooks will be completed by February-end and that schools will receive the books by March 31, 2020. “This will also ensure that students get an idea of the study material before classes commence. They will be able to familiarise themselves with the syllabus,” Mr. Gopalkrishna said.
This year, even class 10 students faced hardship as they did not receive some of the textbooks even one month after the commencement of the academic year. Those in class 10, who are preparing for the board examination in March 2020, were forced to rely on soft copies or photocopies of textbooks.
Madhavi S., mother of a class 10 student, said many schools had to tweak the schedule of their unit tests because of the delay. “Schools start teaching the class 10 syllabus in class nine itself and students write mock tests during summer vacations at tutorials. Ensuring that they get their textbooks early will be of immense help,” she said.
The move has been welcomed by school and parents’ associations who hope that the department will keep its promise. “We also want the process of distribution to be streamlined. School managements have to go to the office of the jurisdictional Block Education Officer and collect the textbooks. Often, school staff are asked to come multiple times for this purpose,” said Srinivas S., a management member of a private school in north Bengaluru.
