No textbooks one month after re-opening of schools

"We are dispatching about 6 to 7 lakh textbooks every day and plan to send the remaining quantity in about a week" said B. Sudhakar, Director of Government Textbook Press

Shortage of books for classes three, six and seven is felt more as the government has revised the syllabus for them this year.Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

The process of learning is yet to begin in right earnest a month after the schools have re-opened in the State as a sizeable number out of about 85-lakh students in the government-run schools are yet to lay their hands on a few textbooks at least, if not all.

In spite of government claims that it has supplied over 92 per cent of about 5.14 crore textbooks for classes one to ten already, students in schools are yet to receive books in one subject or another. The short supply of textbooks varies from school to school but the shortage for classes three, six and seven is felt more as the government has revised the syllabus for them this academic year.

Minister for School Education S. Sailajanath admitted some delay in distribution of books, but said it was being speeded up by providing additional funds for transportation. “We have taken up printing of textbooks with Rs.30 crore from Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM) this year. The textbooks provided in the State are best in quality compared to other States as we have improved their quality to a large extent,” the Minister said.

Asked about shortage of some titles for many classes, the Minister said that there was shortage of textbooks for social studies and science for class seven. They would complete distribution before the conclusion of Education Fortnight, he noted, stating that it used to stretch even till September-October in the previous years.

When contacted, Director of Government Textbook Press B. Sudhakar told The Hindu that as on July 7 they had printed and supplied about 4.53 crore textbooks for Telugu, English and Urdu medium schools to the District Educational Officers (DEOs). “We are dispatching about 6 to 7 lakh textbooks every day and plan to send the remaining quantity in about a week,” he said.

However, the position in schools is quite different according to State general secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI) K. Chandramohan, who put the short supply at about 25 per cent. “The students of municipal primary school in NTR Colony at Hindupur have not received some textbooks of classes two, three and five,” he said quoting the findings of a survey conducted by them recently on shortage of textbooks.