Srinagar, March 31: The new session in the schools has started and the government is yet to distribute free textbooks in schools, hampering the studies of students.
Parents and teachers told Rising Kashmir that the delay in the distribution of books has made the students disinterested and hinders education among students who belong to the underprivileged sections of society.
Ghulam Rasool, a parent from Habba Kadal Srinagar, said that every year, the students remain without books for months after the start of a new session. “Students face this issue every year. How can we expect them to study properly when the government delays the delivery of books,” he said.
Altaf Hussain, Joint Secretary Publication, Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) said the free books will be distributed in the government schools from the first to the second week of April.
The parents said they enroll their children in government schools for the facilities like free textbooks and uniforms which can lessen their financial burden.
"Being financially weak, for me, it is really hard to pay the cost of books and other things for our kids," said Asifa, a parent of a 3rd class student.
Due to the extension of the previous academic session, the final exams were conducted in the month of March this year and the session was started soon after the culmination of the final examination.
To overcome the unavailability of books, the teachers in their schools are managing the academics by distributing the books taken back from the promoted students.
“We have been receiving many calls from the parents regarding books. We collected back the books that were used by the students who got promoted to the next classes and distributed the old books among the students of the current academic session. For primary classes, we are adjusting but for classes 6 to 8, we are facing difficulties," said a teacher.
As part of the education policy, the students enrolled in government-run schools up to 8th class are provided with textbooks free of cost.