New school books under NEP to cost 48% more

The Kanpur Parents’ Association’s president Abhimanyu Gupta has demanded formulation of a new policy to control the prices of schoolbooks.

KANPUR Adding to the financial burden of parents, school books to be taught as a part of the new education policy from Classes 1st to 8th would get dearer by 48% from the upcoming academic session. The books -- which are to be made eligible for public schools -- would also have their content changed in comparison to previous years, said people aware of the development.

The schools have received the specimen from publishers, who have increased the prices by 16-48%. (HT Photo)

The schools have received the specimen from publishers, who have increased the prices by 16-48%. The publishers have cited exponential rise in the cost of paper due to availability crisis behind the steep hike. “Publishers from Bengaluru, Kolkata along with the local ones have increased the costs heavily. We do not want to change the books but we will have to. The policy binds us to do so,” said principal of a school located in Prayagraj Cantonment.

For context, a social science book for Class 1 may cost ₹339 in comparison to the earlier ₹229. Similarly, Class 8th books would be available for ₹579 against the earlier ₹499. The Class 1 Mathematics book that used to cost ₹339 would now be available for ₹439. The same for Class 8 would cost ₹679 instead of the previous ₹479.

Prateek Srivastava, coordinator, Kanpur Schools’ Welfare Association, said that the new education policy would be implemented in this session and new books with changed content are to be rolled out in the classes. “After being told by the schools about the new prices, we spoke to number of publishers on this issue. They cited the paper crisis while pointing out that current prices are unprecedented. They have no option but to increase the prices. For parents, this hike may cause trouble. As the syllabus is new, students would also not be able to use old books,” added Tiwari.

Meanwhile, the Kanpur Parents’ Association’s president Abhimanyu Gupta has demanded formulation of a new policy to control the prices of schoolbooks. “Not everyone can buy such costly books, the government should allow the children to continue with old books and control the publishers and schools,” he said.

On the other hand, former CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly said, “The cost will go up but it is not alarming. As the cost of paper and printing has gone up, there will be an increase in the cost. The new books will not be voluminous. It will be written in a way that benefits students.”

Director general school education, Vijay Kiran Anand, said, “In U.P. government schools, the books are given free. We check the cost at tendering process. Private schools will also address the issue at their own by following more NCERT books.”