JOIN USAs per the new plan adopted by the government, the textbooks are given free of cost to government schools up to Standard X and to aided schools up to Standard VIII.
Aided schools have to purchase textbooks for Standard IX and X while unaided schools are not given free textbooks.
Text books Nodal officer K Chandrasekhar Ural informed Deccan Herald that there is no shortage of textbooks for Standard IV, V, IX and X in Udupi.
Demand
There was a demand of 42,719 textbooks for Standard I in the district, of which 35,748 textbooks have been given to the schools. There is a shortage of 6,971 ‘Nali Kali Kannada’ textbooks of Standard I. There was a demand for 48,318 textbooks for Standard II, of which 41,201 have been supplied. There is shortage of 7,117 ‘Nali Kali Maths’ textbooks.
For Standard III, there was a demand of as many as 52,478 textbooks and there is shortage of 26,741 Kannada and Maths textbooks. There is a need of 10 Konkani textbooks for Standard VI.
For Standard VII, there was a demand of 58,465 textbooks in the district. Already, 43,931 have been supplied. There is shortage of 14,537 Kannada language textbooks. However, these books are needed during the next term, that is, after October.
For Standard VIII, all textbooks have been supplied except for 53 Hindi textbooks needed by couple of schools in the district.
All the unaided and aided (Standard IX and X) schools in the district were asked to send their demand list along with DD for the amount before April 30. Schools sent their demand list only after May and this is one of the reasons for delay, he informed.
When contacted, District Education Officer Nagesh Shyanbhag said that only after receiving DDs, the government will order for the printing of textbooks. The process will take more than one month. “We are receiving DDs for the order even today. But we have rejected all the DDs that reached us after June 30,” he added.
The fluctuations in the demand for the textbooks have derailed the process.
Ural said there is a shortage of 71,944 textbooks under sales category. As many as 1,49,988 textbooks have been supplied, he added.