How nexus between private publishers, schools thrives
Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 5
In the absence of any mechanism, private schools continue to prescribe highly priced private publishers’ books in spite of the availability of economical NCERT books available in the market.
The debate over the issue sparked off only last year when the Madras High Court directed the CBSE to ensure that even private schools affiliated to it use NCERT books and not private publishers’ books.
Private schools run monopoly in connivance with booksellers and book publishers without any enforcement of only NCERT books in schools.
Every year, private schools release book lists to parents wherein they do not write names of booksellers and claim that books can be purchased in open market. However, parents argue that books are only available at select shops.
In a reply to the news item, “Schools push parents to buy books from specific seller”, published in these columns yesterday, RK Sabhu from the management of Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Sector 27, said: “Bhavan Vidyalaya is a school which does not get into the practice of pressuring parents to buy books from designated shops. It is mentioned on the signboards also.”
What Madras HC ruled
The orders of the Madras High Court dated May 29, 2018, read, “When the Government of India and the NCERT decide about the curriculum, the CBSE and the schools affiliated to it are bound to follow the very same syllabus and books prescribed by the NCERT. If schools are at liberty to choose books, it would only create chaos, but would also affect uniformity in education throughout the country. Hence, there shall a direction to prescribe and use only NCERT books to CBSE students.”
The Madras High Court had also asked the Union Government to direct the state governments and UTs to form special squads to inspect schools and prevent the use of non-prescribed books. The MHRD had only followed this order of the high court.
In June last year, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) directed all state governments and UTs to show compliance with the Madras High Court orders and send an action taken report to the ministry.
Acting upon the MHRD orders, the UT Education Department directed heads of all schools to prescribe and use only NCERT books by showing compliance with the Madras High Court orders.
However on October 5, the MHRD asked the state government to comply with all high court orders, but did not ask it to implement the order of using only NCERT books.
UT Education Dept does not prescribe books
The UT Education Department does not provide lists of prescribed textbooks to private schools. Hence, private schools affiliated to the CBSE prescribe non-NCERT books. In government schools, only NCERT books are prescribed and used.
CBSE’s dissent over order on NCERT books
Following the orders of the Madras High Court, the CBSE appealed against the direction on the use of NCERT books.
The Madras High Court showed displeasure at CBSE’s move and said, “This court has every reason to believe that there is a hidden agenda between CBSE officials and private book publishers. That’s the reason why even a direction to use only NCERT books is being appealed by the CBSE.”
In the new affiliation by-laws released by the CBSE last year, it is not mandatory for schools affiliated to it to prescribe textbooks published by the NCERT.
We don’t pressure parents to buy books from select shops: Bhavan Vidyalaya
In a reply to the news item, “Schools push parents to buy books from specific seller”, published in these columns on Thursday, RK Sabhu from the management of Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Sector 27, said: “Bhavan Vidyalaya is a school which does not get into the practice of pressuring parents to buy books from designated shops. It is mentioned on signboards also.”
