No sign of textbooks as another school year dawns

There were loud complaints last year about the delay in getting textbooks in schools in different parts of the State in time. The situation may not be any better this time going by indications.

The schools are all set to reopen in 10 days and teachers’ training programmes for the changed curriculum for classes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 are under way. However, no copy of textbooks has reached any of the textbook depots in the State so far.

“Nor do we expect them to, at least for a few months, considering the way the Education Department is acting,” A.K. Abdul Hakim, treasurer of the Kerala Aided Higher Secondary Teachers’ Association (KAHSTA), said. He said that last year, textbooks reached many schools several months late. “Some schools even received it in December, at the fag end of the academic year,” Mr. Hakim said.

The situation was not any better in the case of the teachers’ handbook. “A large number of teachers didn’t get them at all,” he said. The teachers’ training programme for the changed curriculum too did not take place in time at many places last year, he said, adding that the situation could be worse this time.

Teachers have been instructed by the authorities to download the textbooks from the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) website for training purposes, sources said. “In some cases, however, only two chapters of the changed textbook are available on the site,” K.K. Sivadasan, a senior teacher at Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Balussery, said. This, he said, was a clear indication of delay. said.

R.V. Abdulla, district secretary of the Kerala School Teachers Association (KSTA), said the Education Department submitted the print order of the textbooks to the government press at Ottappalam very late. As many as 3.73 crore textbooks have to be printed for different classes this year. “How are they going to finish it in such short period,” he asked.

SCERT director S. Raveendran Nair, however, maintained that the printing work was on schedule. “Around 90 per cent of the printing work is learned to have been completed, and we are expecting to make the textbooks available in time,” he told The Hindu .