Parents resent steep hike in Himachal school board textbook prices

Our Correspondent

Nurpur, July 14

A steep hike in the prices of textbooks by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education has sparked off resentment among the parents whose wards have taken admission to various board-affiliated private and public schools in the region.

The education board, which publishes its own textbooks based on the NCERT syllabus, distributes books free of cost to the students of government schools but the students of private schools that are affiliated to it have to purchase the books.

This year, the board has enhanced the prices of textbooks from Class I to VIII by 50 to 100 per cent. Inquiries reveal that the mathematics books of Class VI and VII, which were available for Rs 60 last year, are now being sold for Rs 120 while the mathematics book of Class VIII is available for Rs 110 — at a steep 83 per cent higher price than the previous session.

Similarly, the cost of the science textbooks of Class VI and VIII have been increased from Rs 60 to Rs 80 and from Rs 60 to Rs 100, respectively. The board has also increased the prices of the three-book sets of English, Hindi and mathematics of Class I and II from Rs 180 to Rs 210 and of the four-book sets (English, Hindi, Mathematics and environment science) of Class III, IV and V from Rs 240 to between Rs 305 and Rs 335.

Saroj Kumari, Seema, Jyoti, Surinder and Ajay Kumar, whose children have taken admission to local schools, said that the same books published by the NCERT were available in the market at much lower prices. The Secretary, HP Board of School Education, could not reached for his comments.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.