School textbook supply goes for a toss in state

HYDERABAD: A fortnight since their schools reopened, students all over the state, incuding the capital, are still struggling to get textbooks. While the situation in government schools in the twin cities is that free distribution of textbooks has been temporarily put on hold, private schools are faced with nonavailability of supplies in the open market. Consequently, two lakh students of classes seven, eight and nine are having to learn their first lessons without the aid of textbooks. The scarcity of textbooks cuts across several subjects: English, general science, social studies and Hindi (first language) textbooks in the case of class seven.There is a long line of parents looking to buy textbooks at Gayatri book stall  in Koti. Shops such as this are extractihng a premium of 10 per cent over the original cost and parents are shelling it out. “What can we do? I visited several book stores. Wherever we go, 'no stock' boards stare us in the face. Schools don't help either. They put us at the mercy of private suppliers,'' said N Raghunandan, a parent.Officials are trotting out the usual plea: supplies will be sent to government schools by the end of this month.There are some 3,000 schools in Hyderabad: 802 government and more than 2000 private.schools. Many of them have been hit by the textbook shortage, which has become an annual affair.Schools need some 21 textbooks. More than 17 lakh textbooks are required this year. Government textbook press officials say at least 2 lakh books have been despatched to retail locations and one lakh are lying in the government depot. Before the schools reopened, the government despatched 11 lakh books from June 3 to 10. That's still some 7.50 lakh short.Government textbook press director James says printing textbooks is a massive effort: some 5 crore copies are printed to cater to classes one to ten. “We have dispatched 90 per cent of the requirement to government schools,” he says. As for supply to private schools, the printing has been entrusted to four publishers. Supply bottlenecks arise mainly because shopkeepers have to submit a demand draft to procure the required stock. This leads to snags, holding up the supply chain.