Ludhiana lockdown: Delivery of school textbooks to block offices begins amid manpower shortage
PSEB depot officials earlier used to hire adequate workers for the purpose but, this time, officials are working with the existing depot staff in view of the coronavirus scare
After Punjab education secretary Krishan Kumar directed the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) depot officials to start distribution of textbooks among block offices in the district, the officials were seen scrambling to execute the task at the Punjabi Bhawan on Wednesday amid manpower shortage.
These books are provided free of cost to all students from Classes 1 to 8 and to those under SC/ST and BC categories in Classes 9 and 10.
Earlier, depot officials used to hire adequate workers to load the trucks with books, which were further delivered to 19 blocks of the district. But, this time, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, officials have to work with the existing staff at the depot.
The depot here has one Class 4 employee, four daily wagers, one storekeeper and a manager. The employees, with the storekeeper, first unload the books sent by the board office and then keep them in the designated rooms at the depot. A proper record is maintained by the store keeper about the books received and then sent to the blocks, subject-wise and class-wise. Then the employees count the bundles of books and load them in the trucks, which are sent to various blocks in the district.
Depot manager Tarlochan Singh said, “The office was sanitised on May 9 and all employees were asked to wear masks and keep washing hands. As per instructions, only 33% staff is coming to the office on rotation basis. We received 3.35 lakh textbooks from the board office before March 23 and more books have been sent in the last two days. We need more staff to deliver the books, but cannot hire workers due to the coronavirus scare.”
To start the distribution of textbooks with the existing staff, a total of 30,000 books were sent to the Mangat-2 block on Wednesday, and another 11,000 to Mangat-1 block on Tuesday.
So far, the depot, which caters to the entire district, has received textbooks for only 20 subjects out of the total 110.
For primary classes, the depot has received mathematics books for Class 2, Reader Punjabi for Class 3 and mathematics, EVS, Hindi and Reader English for Class 5.
Kumar has directed deputy district education officers (DEOs), secondary and elementary, to get the textbooks delivered to schools. As per sources, the district officials are planning to depute nodal officers to take books to schools and then students will be asked class-wise to reach schools to collect these. The school head will follow all guidelines for Covid-19 and ensure social distancing among students and staff.
