Over 85k school text books yet to reach beneficiaries

Times of India: Aurangabad: Tuesday, September 24, 2013.

As many as 85,281 school books and workbooks mainly from class I and II are still pending to be distributed in Aurangabad district by the Zilla Parishad (ZP). The information was sought through an RTI application by a city-based NGO.

"Under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009, it is mandatory on the part of the government to provide facilities such as books and other study material to students. However, books have still not reached the beneficiaries," said Mohsin Ahmed, president, Jan Jagran Samiti.

Ahmed said that the delay has hindered the academic performance of students. Many parents who cannot afford to buy books are also facing financial burden. "The academic year began in June but the students are still managing without books," he added.

As per the information procured from the ZP, more than 600 students from each taluka of the district are yet to receive their books.

"As many as 37,809 Marathi books and 5,041 Urdu books of class I students are still pending. For class 2 students, 37,754 Marathi books and 4,677 Urdu book are yet to be distributed in the district," Ahmed added. About 3,120 books of other subjects still remain to be issued by the ZP across the nine talukas.

As per the statistics, 13,36,766 books are required of which only 12,48,365 books have been supplied by the ZP, the deficit amounting to 88,401 books.

"My daughter has only received books of three subjects while others are still awaited," said Amjad Khan, parent of a class I student.

Syed Kaleem, parent of another student, said that his son has to borrow books from his friends. "It causes problems with his homework," he added.

The issue has also been raised at the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court through a PIL. The hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday.

Nitin Upasani, primary education officer, said, "All the demands for books have been met as per the request and information received through Unified District Information System for Education (UDIES) database, under the RTE."