KOCHI: The Kerala CBSE School Managements Association likes wordplay, apparently.
Focusing on just one word - the lack of it, actually - the association has decided not to fully implement the directive by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) that has asked schools to use books printed and published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for classes I to XII for the upcoming 2017-18 academic year.
The word - ‘compulsory’. The association has informally decided to use books published by private companies for classes up to VI for the said academic year.
“The Association reached the informal decision as the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) circular does not state the MHRD directive should be implemented compulsorily. Since the new academic year begins soon, managements need some time to implement the decision,” said association president T P M Ibrahim Khan. “The MHRD decision will be implemented fully from the 2018-19 academic year,” he said.
The association had recently announced that it would sound its concerns to the MHRD. Khan said the main reason why managements were going against the order - partially, that is - was that the books will not be colourful and attractive for students of smaller classes.
“Most schools also said they had already placed orders of books for the coming academic year with private publishers,” said Khan, adding, “It may be noted, though published by private companies, the books have NCERT’s approval. This does not mean only books by private companies are used at CBSE schools. Around 30 per cent of the books used by schools are printed and published by the NCERT. The schools are only pointing out the practical difficulties in implementing the decision on such short notice.”
Decision may hit textbook publishing industry
The MHRD decision to have only books printed and published by NCERT is expected to severely impact the textbook publishing industry in India, which, say unofficial figures, may be worth `2,000 crore.
However, it will bring relief to parents, as NCERT books will be available at half the price of books by private publishers. Kerala has 15 lakh students in around 1,500 CBSE schools.