Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait on Friday conceded that there were as many as 240 typographical and factual errors introduced in school textbooks distributed during the current academic year.

Replying to Tara Anuradha (BJP) in the Legislative Council, Sait said that his department was, however, taking measures to ensure that the same mistakes aren't repeated the coming academic year.

Tara attacked the Education department for its lackadaisical attitude. She said that the quality of education had taken a hit, because of the department's shoddy job in printing and distributing textbooks.

Stating that the tender process for printing textbooks had been initiated, Sait said that last year there was a severe issue of paper availability, which had caused the delay.

Practice-cum-activity book

The minister said that the department would distribute practice-cum-activity books along with textbooks to students, to improve their creativity.  

He said that such a decision was taken after the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) noted that the state syllabus textbooks in Karnataka were not "learner-centric" -- thereby not encouraging creativity among students.

Fresh rules

Sait said that the state government was in the process of finalising fresh rules for regulating the unauthorised fee structures and imposition of fines by private schools.

Replying to P R Ramesh (Congress), Sait said amendments had been introduced to the Karnataka Educational Institutions Rules.

The move was to check exploitation of parents and students. The minister said that District Education Regulatory Authorities had been constituted in all districts, which were addressing the problems of parents and students.  

Sait said that around 36,000 classrooms in government schools, found to be in dilapidated conditions, would be demolished and rebuilt. The department would also be constructing an additional 19,000 classrooms, he added.  

Replying to K T Srikantegowda (JD-S), Sait said that Rs 243 crore unspent MLA funds (between 2002-2012) would be utilised for carrying out the repair and reconstruction works.