Published: 13th September 2017
Half a year gone, students in 150 Mysuru schools yet to receive textbooks
Payments have been made, exams have begun but books are yet to reach their destination. A Karnataka Education official says parents assume that the schools have misused the money
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The Education Department has failed to provide textbooks to 150 Mysuru schools
In a shocking discovery, it has been found that around 150 schools in Mysuru district have not received any textbooks from the Education Department. It is also reported that schools in Karnataka Education Minister Tanveer Sait's constituency, Narsimharaja, are yet to receive textbooks for class IX.
This is despite the commencement of mid-term exams and the end of almost half the academic session. Tired of the prolonged wait, some schools have started distributing photocopied issues of the textbooks.
School authorities have tired of running to the block education officers (BEO) in the state. A school owner from Tilak Nagar in Narasimharaja constituency told Express that despite paying money, the Education Department has not provided Maths textbooks of class 9.
“Class 9 is the foundation for SSLC. If the department delays providing textbooks, how can students perform well in exams,” he said.
General secretary of Associated Management of Government Recognised English Medium Schools in Karnataka, (KAMS) D Shashi Kumar, pointed out that during a meeting of various school associations recently held in Mysuru, it was found that around 150 schools in Mysuru district have not received various textbooks.
“Due to the delay in issuing textbooks by the Education Department, parents are angry with school authorities. They think we have misused the money collected by them for textbooks,” he added.
A group of school owners requesting anonymity said that as per the rules, school management has to apply an indent for textbooks to the block education officers and pay through a demand draft.
“We have been following all these procedures, but still we are waiting for textbooks. We never asked the department to deliver textbooks to the schools doorstep. We are spending our money for the transportation of textbooks from the office of BEOs to schools,” they said.
For the academic year 2017-18, the Karnataka Textbook Society (KTS) was supposed to print around 6.6 crore copies of textbooks which include 511 titles for students from class 1 to 10. KTS, which comes under the Education Department, has assigned the job of printing textbooks to 21 publishers which include government press as well.
