BANGALORE: Students studying in schools affiliated to the state board will not have to worry if they lose their textbooks in the middle of the year or if they don’t get the book in the market.
The Karnataka Textbook Society has decided to provide textbooks online from the next academic year.
The Society has created a dedicated website to ensure students get textbooks. It has hosted soft copies of revised textbooks of Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) on a pilot basis.
But, this does not mean that the government will stop providing hard copies of textbooks. “The system of distributing hard copies of textbooks will continue. Those who cannot get hard copies or lose the books can make use of the website,” said an official from the Society.
The state government distributes textbooks from Classes 1 to 10 free of cost for students studying in government and aided institutions and by collecting prescribed rates to private unaided school students. Hence, it is difficult to get textbooks in the open market.
Karnataka Textbook Society has already uploaded 23 titles of textbooks of Classes 1 to 10 in three languages (medium of instruction) prepared as per the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005. The rest will be uploaded on the website soon.
The Society spends `190 crore on printing of 378 titles of textbooks. However, according to officials, uploading textbooks online will not reduce the printing expenses. “For the benefit of students and teachers, we will start this system and will continue the distribution of hard copies too,” added official.
The online versions of the textbooks will be available on www.ktbs.kar.nic.in by the next academic year.