Delay in textbooks' distribution

After the completion of their annual examinations the students of government and private schools need new textbooks in their next classes. The new academic session will begin on April 1 and the school authorities have been directed to provisionally admit students to next classes.

Reports say that like last year there is again delay in the distribution of textbooks by the J& K Board of School Education (BoSE) in the schools. Because of the delay last year the books were distributed till June and classes got off in November.

The students suffered a lot in absence of the text books. It affected their studies and subsequent performance of a number of students in examinations. BoSE should be quick in distribution of the text books this time. The books should be distributed well in advance so that the students do not face any problems in next classes.

For now the annual examinations are held in March instead of November due to change in the academic session. And same pattern will continue. Prior to examinations the schools reopened nearly after three month long winter vacation. After the examination, the school authorities have been asked to provisionally admit the students to next classes so that the time is not wasted till the declaration of the results.

Subsequently, the new academic session will start from April 1. The BoSE authorities said that the book distribution process will start from March 27. But completing this process speedily is also important. The exercise should not get stretched to June this year also. BoSE must keep the books available in sufficient quantity since the private schools too have been directed to use the BoSE prescribed books.

There should not be shortage of books for the students of private schools also. Shifting of academic session two year back from autumn to spring has given rise to some new problems. These problems must be addressed so that neither the students nor the teachers face any inconveniences.

The session was changed despite objections from some stakeholders to such a move. Now that the change is a reality, all related problems must be solved accordingly. The students have to get enough time for the classwork and get the textbooks in time also. For that the BoSE has to take all possible steps.

There is a need to learn from the mistakes which resulted in the students not getting the books in time last year. Such errors should be avoided this year. A mechanism has to be evolved so that there is a permanent solution to the problem.