VIJAYAWADA: Despite the schools set to reopen on June 12, Krishna district is facing a severe shortage of prescribed textbooks, leaving the parents in the lurch. Adding to their woes, private school managements have washed their hands off and have asked the parents to purchase the textbooks themselves from the shortage-hit local bookstores.
This year, the State government has arranged 2.6 crore textbooks to be distributed to the government schools on the first day of the school. Also, another 3.5 crore textbooks are needed to be made available in the markets for purchase by parents of students studying in private schools.
Visalandhra Book House in-charge Narayana said, “Some textbooks are out of stock but we hope for restoration of stocks soon after reopening of the schools.” The crisis can also be attributed to the partial printing and sale of textbooks of some subjects despite high demand for the entire set. Like many other parents, B Srinivas went to a bookstore to buy a set of textbooks for Class IX but returned home only with textbooks of languages and Mathematics, with Social Studies and Science textbooks being out of stock.
Speaking to TNIE, he said that parents have to go through this ordeal every year. “Getting the complete set of textbooks is very difficult every year. This year too, I got only a part of the set. Despite paying for textbooks to Narayana school, the management has asked me to get the textbooks from bookstores,” Srinivas said.
“In Krishna district, the textbooks will be dispatched to the schools by Monday. In local bookstores too, we are making sure that all the textbooks are in stock,” said Krishna district deputy DEO K Ravi Kumar.
Number crunching
69.75 lakh students going to school in State
45,662 government schools in State
2.6 crore textbooks for government schools
15,436 private schools in State
3.5 crore textbooks for private schools