BERHAMPUR: Even as the new academic session has already started, the school students in Ganjam district are yet to get their text books.
According to official reports, the district requires 25,47,200 books for primary school students but the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) has so far supplied 18,80,742 books. As per norms, books upto Class VIII should be supplied free of cost to the students by OPEPA.
Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Ganjam, Sudam Charan Mandal said there have been allegations about improper distribution of books in certain schools. “We have received complaints that distribution of books was not done as per the student strength in schools,” he said, adding that steps are being taken to collect the surplus books and distribute them among students who have not received any book yet.
Ganjam Collector, Premchandra Choudhary on Saturday directed all the Block Education Officers to streamline books distribution at the earliest.