Officials of the Andhra Pradesh Education Department have expedited the textbook distribution process for all government schools in the Guntur district. As a result, students will be receiving their second-semester books early this year. Also, as many as 90 schools in the district have already received the textbooks.
How will this feat be achieved?
At an estimate, 9.49 lakh textbooks are required for students from Classes I to IX in all government schools of Guntur. In order to prevent any delay in the distribution, the books were transported from the main godown at Amaravati Road in Guntur city to all mandals. From there, the books were dispersed to all the schools (the collection points) through the state government's MDU (Mobile Dispensing Unit) vehicles, as mentioned in a report by The New Indian Express.
The MDUs have the capacity to carry up to one tonne of materials and are currently being used to deliver essential commodities to people's doorsteps every month. Additionally, in order to deliver books to schools located in remote areas, the state government had entered into an agreement with the tech giant Amazon to use its trucks and staff.
Meanwhile, though the state government gave clear instructions to the private schools to purchase State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)-issued textbooks, only 60 per cent of schools placed orders for these textbooks. A few private schools are using books from private publishers with different syllabi, and are forcing parents and students to purchase these books at higher prices. Apart from the school and tuition fees, a few schools are allegedly collecting Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000 separately for books.
Instructions from the education department
In 2019, the Education Department had directed private school managements not to compel students to purchase textbooks from them or any particular seller, asking them to purchase government textbooks according to the student strength in their respective schools. According to the fixed rates, they ought to pay five per cent of the total price online while placing the order and the remaining amount while receiving the books. Stern action would be taken against the management, if they failed to follow the regulations, the education department officials had stated, as per TNIE.
