UT schools under scanner for referring specific book shops

Ahead of the new academic session, the annual hike in school admission and quarterly fees is not the only concern for parents. The purchase of curriculum books, which are available at selected bookstores, and for which parents have to shell out thousands of rupees is burning a hole in their pockets.

The UT Education Department has already issued a common admission schedule of entry-level classes for all local schools. The officials concerned said the Education Department will hold a meeting with all stakeholder schools and issue guidelines to not to refer any specific bookstores or uniform stores to parents for making the purchase.

Circular issued to 2 schools last year

Last year, the DoE issued a circular to two schools located in Sectors 26 and 45 to file their replies for recommending particular shops to parents for purchase of books and uniforms. These schools had allegedly mentioned the names of some particular outlets on their official websites.

The schools will be asked to upload the details of the books on the school website. Heavy rush to local bookstores starts annually by March, when parents can be seen standing in long queues to make the purchases. In order to settle the rush, some book stores also offer free home delivery of books.

“We will be calling a meeting of all stakeholder schools before new academic session. The schools will be asked to upload details of the books on the school website so that parents can buy books from any shop. The schools will also be advised to not to refer to any particular shops for making purchases of books or school uniforms,” said Harsuhinder Pal Singh Brar, Director, School Education.

Hike in prices

In 2018, the UT Education Department had directed schools to prescribe only NCERT books for all subjects, except language and mathematics for classes I and II, and language, EVS and mathematics for classes III to V. However, parents claimed that private schools continue to prescribe extra books. There were certain schools, which had their sets of books costing over Rs 7,000 for Class VIII (with and without a language subject).

“See, NCERT books are fine to read with... But in today’s world, we need to have extra information. The schools have the responsibility to create a strong base of imparting education to students, which cannot be made mere from the NCERT books,” said a school curriculum expert.