Shortage of textbooks hits schools in state
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The shortage of textbooks has hit students ahead of the start of the new academic year from June 12.
Textbooks have not reached schools affiliated to the state board, even though the situation is better in the case of CBSE and ICSE students. Long queues are seen at the government textbook sales counter near Mint Compound, Hyderabad. The delay in printing is said to be the reason for the shortage of textbooks. Officials expect the situation to improve by July.
There is no problem of textbooks for students studying in higher and middle-rung private schools, as the managements insist that books should be purchased from their premises. However, students studying in lower-rung private schools and all the government schools are worst affected. The government spends about Rs 80 crore per annum on printing textbooks. A total of 6.03 crore books under 234 titles for classes I to X are required for the new academic year. Out of this, 1.93 crore books are meant to be sold to private schools, and the remaining sent for free supply to students in all the government schools. The situation is far worse in Hyderabad, as of the total 16.60 lakh textbooks required, only 10 lakhs have been supplied so far.
“There was a delay in finalising the printing contracts this year. We could supply 80 per cent of the required textbooks. The rest 20 per cent textbooks are printed and at binding and packaging stages. We have planned to distribute the entire 100 per cent textbooks by June-end,” said Mr Sudhakar, director, AP Government Textbook Press.
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