COIMBATORE: The Directorate of Elementary Education (DEE) has been urged to credit funds for transporting textbooks directly to the school bank accounts rather than to the accounts of Block Educational Officers. This demand was raised by headmasters of panchayat union primary and middle schools in Coimbatore.
Often headmasters have to collect books from block education offices and transport them to their schools every time.
A headmaster of a school in Coimbatore, who did not wish to be named, told TNIE, "Textbooks are distributed from the block education office to schools in three terms every year. As per the norms, Block Educational Officers (BEOs) should deliver the textbooks directly to schools by hiring vehicles, for which funds are allocated to them. However, BEOs make headmasters collect the textbooks from their offices and transport them to schools themselves. This happens every time."
He alleged that BEOs do not provide transport charges to headmasters from the allocated funds and pointed out that headmasters have to spend their own pocket money, ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000, depending on the distance between the block office and the school.
Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teacher Federation President C Arasu told TNIE that this issue persists across all districts.
He said that instead of allocating funds to officers, it would be better to credit the amount directly to school accounts. With these funds, headmasters can collect the textbooks by hiring vehicles, and he urged the authorities to consider the matter immediately.
Repeated attempts to reach the top officers of the DEE for comment were unsuccessful.