New session but old books for students in govt schools
New session at government schools has started. But there are no books for children.
The students are yet to receive textbooks for the new session. Officials of basic education department say that the books would be sent to schools by July and work has been expedited. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath also instructed the officials to ensure that books, bags and uniform reach students by July.
The teachers in schools allege that the delay has affected studies and more than that, distracted students’ interest in classrooms. Ashutosh Anand Awasthi, a teacher at an upper primary school said, “New academic session comes with a lot of craze for students, the biggest among them being the fad for new books. Since the books are yet to come and the session has already started, the students are managing with old books.”
In order to keep the classes going, the old books of students who have been promoted to next grades were collected by the teachers and have been distributed to the students. Thus, the children are using books which their seniors used in the previous session. But such books aren’t in good shape.
“The books are in bad shape. Moreover, not every student has got books. The students are yet to get a feel of the new session,” said another teacher at a government primary school in Unnao.
The education department in UP began the practice of starting new academic session from April in 2015. Before that, the classes began in July. Even last year, the students had to remain without books in April and May and the books were distributed only when the schools reopened in July after vacations.
There are thirteen books each in class 6, 7 and 8. For students of class 3, 4 and 5 there are 6 books in each class. For classes 1 and 2, there are two books each.
There are nearly 1.13 lakh primary and 46,000 upper primary schools in the state.
There are about 1.80 crore students studying in these schools. In Lucknow alone there are 1,82,000 students in the primary and upper primary schools.