The Uttar Pradesh Board has directed districts to organise book awareness and accessibility camps, or book fairs, to ensure the availability of authorised and affordable textbooks for students. 

UP Board secretary Bhagwati Singh said, “Our initiative aims to reduce costs for families while improving transparency, awareness and access to authorised textbooks across the state.”

The initiative will cover more than 1 crore students from Classes 9 to 12 across over 29,000 schools.

District education officials have been instructed to conduct the fairs by April 15, following a model earlier implemented in Agra and Saharanpur divisions. Government and aided inter-colleges will host the events under the supervision of designated officers.

The fairs will include participation from authorised publishers such as Pioneer Printers (Agra), Pitambra Books (Jhansi), and Singhal Agencies (Lucknow). Students will have access to 70 NCERT textbooks and 12 selected books in Hindi, Sanskrit, and Urdu.

The move aims to address the circulation of unauthorised textbooks, which are reportedly being sold at 149% to 361% higher prices than board-approved books.

The board has also directed that inspections be carried out to ensure students are not compelled to purchase unauthorised materials. Officials said strict action will be taken against principals, managers, or teachers found violating the guidelines.

To help identify genuine books, textbooks printed this year will carry a seven-digit serial number in ultraviolet fluorescent red ink on the cover.

The initiative is expected to improve access to authorised textbooks and streamline distribution across schools in the state.