BENGALURU: The issues plaguing Karnataka schools is massive delay in providing textbooks to students. “It is a failed system. Every year, there are issues, resulting in a delay of six to eight months. Sometimes, we will not even receive textbooks for that year,” Karnataka Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools General Secretary Shashi Kumar told TNIE.
Textbooks are yet to reach everywhere with classes beginning early in May to facilitate learning recovery programme. The distribution has been delayed due to a paper shortage and Covid-19 related issues. Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh has said textbooks had been issued earlier than the usual schedule in October. Still, it was distributed two months after schools began.
Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS) Managing Director told TNIE that a majority of the textbooks had already been printed. “As of now, 97 per cent of textbooks have been printed, 95.5 per cent supplied and 93 per cent received at block education offices across the state. The total process will be completed in a week,” he said.
“This is a recurring issue since the inception of KTBS. Every year, we have to travel around 50 km to block education offices to beg for textbooks,” Kumar told TNIE. Former principal for MES Teacher’s Colony Dr HS Ganesh Bhatt told TNIE the process would be delayed unless KTBS treated textbooks as a continuous affair with myriad reasons impacting distribution.
“Government should take delay in distribution seriously. KTBS must continuously monitor number of textbooks needed and revisions. It should not be done academic year-wise,” he said and said the delay was due to the lengthy process of revisions and suggestions as well as information from BEOs on number of textbooks needed and quality of printers.