For textbooks, students will need to wait a few more weeks

Bangalore : Unfortunately, students and teachers have yet again started off the new academic year on a rocky note. Though online classes began a month and a half ago, students enrolled in schools affiliated to the State board are yet to receive their textbooks. School managements and teachers are worried that along with the uncertainty of the pandemic and the predicted third wave, the delay will derail the academic year and cause immense hardship to students.

According to details provided by the Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS), as of August 10, only 42% of the textbooks have been distributed to students so far. A senior official admitted that all students across the State would get their study material only by mid-September. “Around 75% of the textbooks will be distributed by the month-end, while the entire process will be completed by September 15. We have, however, ensured that school libraries and gram panchayat libraries have book banks. There are nearly 1.75 crore old textbooks in these banks that students can use,” said the official.

But with online classes still the norm, most students do not have easy access to the textbooks. Education experts said this delay would only further widen the digital divide.

‘Will add to stress’

Lokesh Talikatte, State unit president of the Recognised Unaided Private Schools’ Association, Karnataka, said the delay by several months was unacceptable. “While some students have access to gadgets and can download PDF versions of textbooks, many are unable to access soft copies,” he said, adding that it was putting undue stress on students who were already struggling with learning loss in the previous academic year.

Citing a survey conducted by the Department of Public Instruction, he said 31 lakh students from classes I-X did not have access to any device. In other words, 33% of the total students enrolled, as per the department’s data, did not have access to gadgets. “By the department’s own admission, such a large number of students will be unable to download the soft copies of the textbooks,” he said.

Work orders were issued only in July

The lack of textbooks so late into the academic year is because the Department of Primary and Secondary Education delayed issuing work orders to printers. While the process of issuing work orders is usually undertaken in January, this year, they were issued only in July. The printers have been asked to submit the textbooks within a hundred days.

The first and second waves of COVID-19 saw the government diverting all resources to mitigate the toll and curtail the spread. However, principals and school managements said there was no reason for the work orders to be delayed, especially as the second wave of COVID-19 began much after January.

While State board schools are in a fix, those affiliated with Central boards have also been affected as students are yet to receive the Kannada language textbooks.

The principal of a CBSE school in Bengaluru said, “Kannada is not the mother tongue for a majority of our students. Studying without textbooks is a difficult task.”