BERHAMPUR: The academic session has begun but most students of schools in Odisha's Ganjam district are yet to have their text books.
The textbooks, which are to be supplied to students of government schools up to Class VIII free of cost, are in short supply to the district. Only about 45 per cent of the students have received the text books.
About 5.23 lakh students are reading in the district in 4,061 primary and upper primary schools in the district. About 23.56 lakh textbooks were required for students of different classes, but only about 45 percent of these have been supplied.
As against the requirement of 3.74 lakh textbooks for Class VIII, barely 50 per cent of the requirement has been met. Similarly, about 1.5 lakh books of Class V have reached the district as against the total requirement of 2.91 lakh.
"We have already placed the requirement of textbooks and hope that these will be supplied before the summer vacation begins," said District Project Coordinator of Sarva Sikshya Abhiyana (SSA), Sudam Mandal.
The textbooks are directly supplied to block offices and are distributed to schools through the block education officers (BEOs).
However, sources claimed that despite the lack of supply of textbooks, classes were not affected. "Most of the students are managing their studies through the old books," said Gopal Mishra, a teacher here.
Similarly, CBSE students in the town are also grappling with the shortage of NCERT books. The students are facing the problem to procure NCERT books in the town, as there is not distributor to give away the NCERT books.
Over 5,000 students study in the five Kendriya Vidyalayas in the district. The KVs are functioning at Ambapua, Aska, Bhanjanagar, Digapahandi and Gopalpur, sources said.