No PU textbooks before early July

The new textbooks for arts and commerce subjects of I pre-university course and a few science subjects of the second year won’t be ready before early next month, the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) has confirmed.

The delay in the arrival of textbooks is affecting students and teachers as classes began a few weeks ago. DPUE officials claimed that textbooks of core subjects (physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology) of II PU science were ready as early as in February.

They, however, conceded the delay in arrival of textbooks for arts, commerce and language subjects of I PU and a few science subjects (excluding PCMB) of II PU. An official claimed that II PU science textbooks (PCMB) were available in such places as Mangalore, Mysore and Bijapur.

In I PU arts and commerce streams, textbooks were released for 13 out of 30 subjects on Saturday, DPUE officials said. Textbooks for other subjects such as geology, political science, logic, geography, sociology, Malayalam, Arabic, Marathi, accountancy and business studies would be released shortly, they stressed.

DPUE officials also said that the delay was caused as tenders for printing textbooks were called late. Thus, the entire schedule was disrupted. According to an official, the DPUE prepared only the manuscript of the syllabus and submitted it to the Karnataka Textbook Society in the form of a CD.

Students, however, have belied the DPUE’s claims, saying the textbooks for II PU science subjects (PCMB) are also not available in the market.

New syllabus

The problem cropped up this academic year as the DPUE adopted the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for first-year (arts and commerce) and second-year (science). I PU science had got the NCF syllabus last year. II PU arts and commerce will get the NCF syllabus in the academic year 2014-15.

The introduction of new syllabus is aimed at bringing the PU curriculum on a par with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) programme of study. Before the NCF regime, students referred to textbooks by different authors.

Many colleges, however, have not yet started the classes without the textbooks and are just discussing the topics of study with the help of other material.