To prevent losses, PU Education Dept to collect orders for textbooks in advance

Bengaluru: As part of its efforts to streamline the textbook distribution system, the Department of School Education and Literacy has decided to collect orders from pre-university colleges months before the start of the next academic year.

All PU colleges, including government-aided and unaided institutions, have been asked to submit an indent on the number of textbooks each of them requires, based on which the Department of PU Education will, in turn, issue the order for the printing of textbooks.

Colleges must pay an advance, besides compulsorily submitting the indent online. Subject-wise and title-wise requirements must be clearly laid out in the indent, which is to be uploaded on the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS).

Printing will begin only once colleges pay the amount fixed by the Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS) in advance, the PU Education Department has said.

Given that most students do not purchase their textbooks through official channels, and prefer purchasing them on the market, many textbooks printed by KTBS were being discarded since the department did not have information on the specific requirement of each college. Consequently, the department was left clutching losses with many textbooks going unsold. Given that an indent for textbooks is sought from schools for classes one through ten, the PU Education Department has decided to follow the same system to prevent losses.

The PU Education Department Director and Managing Director of KTBS have been given the green light to proceed with the new system, while Deputy Directors of the PU Department in each district have been instructed to inform all colleges about the same.

Should a college have no requirement for these textbooks, the concerned principal must submit a zero indent.