The wait to get new set of textbooks only seems to be getting longer for many private schools. A majority of the schools are yet to get the full set of the ‘ Samacheer Kalvi' textbooks for most classes. As a result, parents are queuing up at the Directorate of Public Instructions (DPI) to get them.
In every class, particularly from class VII upward, there are a couple of subject books yet to arrive, say city school heads. “Most private dealers are not retailing the books and parents have already paid to the school. So we are left with little choice but to wait for the books to be sent by the Tamilnadu Text Book Corporation,” says a school principal.
On Wednesday, L. Devarajan, an administrative staff of a private school in Chengalpattu, came with a group of people to purchase books from the DPI. “Parents are threatening to pull their wards from the school if we do not provide textbooks. The district educational office has told that it would take another week to replenish the stock in Kancheepuram. We are left with no choice but to bring along people and buy our stock. We will have to make four trips to the DPI to get all the books, he says.
People from Pudukkottai, Cuddalore and other districts are in Chennai, after they heard that the books were available at the DPI.
According to an official at the Tamilnadu Text Book Corporation, until last week books worth approximately Rs.8 crore were supplied to around 480 matriculation schools in the city. The official say there is no mechanism to forecast the demand of the textbooks at such a short notice. “A large number of schools had refused to follow the new syllabus earlier and now there are many schools that are placing orders for the books,” says the official. Also, people go to other districts to purchase books that makes it impossible to estimate the requirement. Moreover, the government schools are given priority while issuing the books.
Books for Class X
Many schools are anxious to first get the class X textbooks, which they have only got in parts. Teachers of Akshara Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Thoriapakkam, are worried as class X students have not got even a single book, while other classes have received a few subject books. “Especially for class VII upwards, two subject books have only been supplied,” says Nalini Unni, principal of the school.
According to officials at the textbook corporation, there is an acute shortage of Class X textbooks, since every student buys more than one copy of the book for tuition classes.
