GUNTUR: The students at government schools will receive second-semester books early this year as the education department officials have expedited the textbook distribution to all government schools in the district.
As many as 9.49 lakh textbooks are required for students from class 1 to 9 in all government schools. In order to prevent any delay in the distribution, the books were transported from the main godown at Amaravati road in Guntur city to all mandals and from there, the books were dispersed to all schools through MDU vehicles.
The mobile dispensing units with a capacity to carry up to 1 tonne of material and which are currently used every month to deliver essential commodities at the doorsteps, were utilised to carry books to the collection points. In order to reach the schools located in remote areas, the State government had entered into an agreement with Amazon to use its trucks and staff to deliver stocks of books to schools.
As part of this, the books were sent to as many as 90 schools in the erstwhile Guntur district.However, while the State government gave clear instructions to the private schools to purchase SCERT-issued textbooks, only 60 percent of schools placed orders for textbooks.
Some private schools are using books from private publishers with different syllabus at higher prices and forcing the parents and students to purchase the books, collecting exorbitant prices from them. Apart from school and tuition fee, some schools are allegedly collecting Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000 separately for books.
Stern action would be taken against the private school managements, if they failed to follow the regulations, said education department officials.
Guidelines by edu dept
In 2019, the education department directed private schools not to compel students to purchase textbooks from school. The school managements should purchase textbooks according student strength