Scramble for books listed by private schools in Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Naina Mishra

Chandigarh, April 2

As the new academic session is set to begin, buying new books for their children is no less than an ordeal for parents in Chandigarh.

At 9 pm when the bustle usually settles in city markets, the Manchanda book store in Sector 19 witnessed a huge rush of parents today. To manage the queue, stretching up to the parking lot, the help of the police was taken.

‘No complaint received from parents’

Ideally, schools should prescribe NCERT books only that are easily available on the market. So far, we have not received any official complaint from parents about private schools prescribing extra books that are available only at one shop or regarding the prices of books. We will look into the matter. Prabhjot Kaur, District Education Officer, UT

In the absence of an effective mechanism, private schools continue to prescribe expensive books of private publishers in spite of the economical NCERT books available in the market.

Parents believe that private schools establish a monopoly in connivance with booksellers and publishers. The UT Education Department does not provide any lists of the prescribed textbooks to private schools. Hence, these schools affiliated to the CBSE prescribe non-NCERT books. In government schools, only NCERT books are prescribed and used.

Deepak, a parent, said, “My son studies in Class V and a set of books cost us Rs5,000. The price could have been much lower if the school staff were teaching students from NCERT books.” Private schools prescribe books of private publishers that are available with only select vendors. Every year, private schools release lists of books to parents wherein they do not write the names of booksellers and claim that books can be purchased in the open market. However, parents argue that the books are only available at a few select shops.

Jai Prakash, another parent, who was waiting in a queue, said, “I am visiting the Manchanda book shop for the sixth time in a week. Every time I visit the shop, some books are unavailable here due to a shortage of stock. The set of books is unavailable anywhere in Chandigarh except at this shop. This is why there is a huge rush at this shop.”

Nitin Goyal, president, Chandigarh Parent Association, said, “In compliance with the orders of the Madras High Court and the MHRD, the Chandigarh Administration had passed directions to all private schools that they can prescribe only NCERT books. But the private schools totally ignore these directions, and the toothless Education Department has been a mute spectator to this open loot. The private schools say that the parents are free to buy textbooks from anywhere but the books prescribed by each school are available at only select shops, with which they have an unofficial and unholy tie-up. The nexus between the schools, publishers and officials is an open secret.”

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, private schools continue to prescribe extra books.

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