BENGALURU: Learning a lesson from past mistakes which resulted in the delay of supplying textbooks during the 2017-18 academic year, the state Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) has already started the process of printing textbooks for the next academic year.
DSERT has issued orders for printing text books of Class 1 to 10 for the 2018-19 academic year. As per the official information available from the department, the printing press has been given three months to send the printed copies.
During the 2017-18 (current year) academic year, the textbooks reached the schools in the middle of August 2017, which is two months after the beginning of the academic year. Considering this, DSERT has taken a decision to print the text books well in advance. Both technical and financial bids are over and printing orders have also been issued to 24 different printing presses including the Government Press.
“Last year, the major road block was paper crunch. Shortage of paper delayed the print and supply of text books to schools,” informed a senior official from DSERT.
Previous year, the printing presses located in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh also expressed that they could not complete the orders due to shortage of paper, other raw material and also water supply during March/ April 2017. “Even the closure of Mysore paper mills Badhravati had an impact and caused shortage of papers,” official added.Every year textbooks will be distributed in two phases and this time, the department is keeping all of them at one slot.
All set for next yr
Printers asked to use 60-70 GSM paper
Rs 131 crore set aside for printing textbooks
24 different printing press have got the orders
Total 501 titles
5.9 crore textbooks