The new academic session has started but most of the students of the Government schools of Uttarakhand have not got the textbooks even after eight days of the new session. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) which is responsible for printing and providing textbooks to the Government schools is able to dispatch only 15 per cent of the textbooks till date.
The Government schools of State need 85,78,500 textbook for its students in this session but the department has provided only 12,74,445 books to the schools till date which is roughly 15 per cent of the requirement. Haridwar, which requires 18,73,450 books has got only nine per cent books while Udham Singh Nagar at 22 per cent of the required supplies is at top of the list.
The Director Academic, Research and Training AK Negi informed The Pioneer that efforts are being made to supply the remaining books as early as possible to the schools.
The departmental sources however pointed out that it may take at least a month to ensure the supplies of books. They informed that the order for printing the textbooks was given to the printers on March 7 and the departmental tender clearly mentions that a time period of two months should be given to the printers. It means that the department can not force the printers to provide textbooks before May 7. When questioned about the reasons for the delay in placing the order the sources revealed that the department has floated the tenders in 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 delay in arrival of textbooks is hampering the studies in the government schools across the state. The summer vacations would start in the schools next month and it is clear that the students would be able to get their new textbooks in the month of July only when the schools would reopen.