The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) responsible for printing and providing textbooks to Government schools of the State is yet to provide 1,46,103 textbooks to the students even after four months of the new academic session.
The State Government provides free textbooks and activity books to the students class I to Class VIII of Government schools. The departmental Data reveal that in Haridwar district 102118 textbooks remain to be distributed, while in Bageshwar 33250 textbooks are yet to reach the hands of the students. In Pauri District 7425 textbooks have not reached the destination of the schools till Monday.
The delay in the availability of textbooks to the schools of the state is a normal practice. The departmental sources revealed that the delay in the availability of textbooks is due to late printing orders given to the printers.
This year the order for printing the textbooks was given to the printers on
March 7. The departmental tender clearly mentions that a time period of two months should be given to the printers to provide the textbooks.
The sources revealed that the department had floated the tenders on time and sent the list of printers to the State Secretariat for approval. They alleged that the officials at the Secretariat sat over the clearance for over two months resulting in the delay.
The data provided by the SCERT reveals that out of the required 8575450 textbook the department was able to provide 8429347 textbooks to the students till Monday.
The department provides 55 textbooks and 20 activity books to the students. The SCERT has engaged Saharanpur-based Ms Gem Multi colour and Dehradun based Ms Uttaranchal Papers for printing the textbooks of the students.
Out of total 75 textbooks and activity books the Gem Multi colour provides 58, while Uttaranchal papers provide 17 textbooks and activity books. The Additional Director of SCERT Seema Jaunsari told The Pioneer that she is examining the situation of availability of the textbooks and 100 percent availability would be ensured.
A retired Government teacher SS Gusain said that the delay in sending the textbooks to the schools hampers the studies of the students as the teachers, too, get complacent when the textbooks are not available.
He said that the textbooks should be available within the first week of the new session.