PU textbooks will soon be e-books

From the next academic year, PU students need not purchase textbooks as they can download it from the website of the Department of Pre-University Education.

This is being done in an attempt to control the price of textbooks and tackle lobbying by printers.  The department will upload a soft copy of the textbooks.

“All textbooks of the arts, science and commerce streams will be uploaded on the website (http://www.pue.kar.nic.in) before the commencement of the academic year,” said department director C Shikha.  The department is following the example of the NCERT, which uploads all textbooks for Class I to Class XII.

Since 2012-13, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks have been prescribed for physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology. Starting this year, accountancy, business studies and economics will also have NCERT textbooks.

These books have also been translated into Kannada by the department, and will be printed by the Karnataka Textbook Society.  For students belonging to Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and other minority mediums, textbooks are available in their language.

Strike deal

At times, private printers strike deals with colleges and force students to buy books only from them, at their price.

The department’s move to go online will help prevent such activities, sources said.  By the end of May, all textbooks are supposed to be available in the market. But often, printing gets delayed and lecturers are unable to complete the syllabus on time.

Making textbooks available online will ensure that such delays are avoided, sources said.