Race To Send Course Books Before Academic Session Begins In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The school and mass education department had distributed 63 per cent of study material to all schools by March 7 and aims to send 85 per cent by month-end, much faster than in the past five years.

The department is tasked with supplying books to schools till May in any academic session, but in the past five years, students had not received books till even August. As a result, students and their parents were staging dharnas, which took a toll on studies.

After receiving flak from parents and intellectuals, the department pulled up its socks and started early this year. By February, the department had sent study materials to all blocks of the state. Also, the department finished tender work for printing text books before September 2018, after which printing began.

A blueprint has been prepared regarding distribution of books, a senior department officer said.

Sources said,  48,41,000 students from Class I to VIII will get free books this year, for which 2.61 crore books are required. Till now, 1,64,43,000 books have been sent to the blocks. But, no district has received 100 per cent books so far.

Some course books have been received in blocks of Malkangiri, Jagatsinghpur, Angul, Balangir, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jharsuguda, Ganjam, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapara and Keonjhar districts.

Less than 50 per cent of books have been supplied in Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Puri, Rayagada, sonepur and Sundargarh districts.

The academic session will commence from the first week of April. The department aims to send all free books before that.