DSERT textbooks of poor quality, alleges KUSMA
The Karnataka Unaided Schools Managements Association (KUSMA) has called the quality of textbooks provided by the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) 'unsatisfactory' and demanded that the unaided schools must have the discretion to choose their own books.
They have also called the coercion by officials of the education department to introduce textbooks prepared and published by DSERT as “unfair, unreasonable and unrealistic”.
A release from KUSMA said that unaided school authorities were discouraged from using textbooks published by DSERT on account of low production values, poor clarity and also inaccuracy in information and diagrams. Further, the release said that parents too were opposed to the idea of the primary and secondary education department imposing the DSERT text books.
The unaided schools managements have further stated that the books produced by DSERT were not available for teachers before summer vacation, making it hard for them to prepare unit plans. The managements have expressed concern that the textbooks prepared by the DSERT were not available for the students even after the commencement of the academic year.
KUSMA has also reasoned that textbooks produced by private publishers are of superior quality and are “prepared and scrutinised” by qualified teachers from reputed schools.
Quoting a circular issued by former Commissioner of Public Instruction V P Baligar in 2003, the managements have argued that the circular “unequivocally implied” that schools were free to choose their own books.
