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No blank pages in Balbharati textbooks from next academic year
State school education department has issued ordinance rescinding the decision taken during the tenure of former education minister Deepak Kesarkar to include blank pages in Balbharati textbooks
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Pune: After cancelling the decision to introduce a uniform dress code, the state school education department has issued an ordinance rescinding the decision taken during the tenure of former education minister Deepak Kesarkar to include blank pages in Balbharati textbooks.
During Kesarkar’s tenure, a decision was taken to include blank pages at the end of each lesson in Balbharati textbooks for Classes 2 to 8 students to note down important words, questions and key points. An online survey was also conducted to assess whether or not the students benefitted from these blank pages. However, the department has decided to publish the Balbharati textbooks without blank pages from the next academic year.
The government provides free Balbharati textbooks to students in all government-aided schools. Initially, the decision to include blank pages in these textbooks was taken in the academic year 2023-24 to address issues such as increasing weight of students’ schoolbags and inadequate writing materials available to students from poor rural background. While education experts, researchers and teachers criticised the initiative, the plan was still implemented on a trial basis.
Over time, it was observed that students were not using the blank pages as expected and were carrying both textbooks and notebooks. While the inclusion of blank pages had increased printing costs, it were not effectively utilised by students.
Krishnakumar Patil, director, Balbharati on Tuesday said, “The March 8, 2023 decision to include blank pages in textbooks has been nullified and textbooks will be provided without it from the academic year 2025-26.”
Notably, the Maharashtra State Primary Teachers’ Committee has consistently opposed both the integrated textbook system and the inclusion of blank pages in textbooks. With the rollback of blank pages in textbooks and the earlier revocation of the ‘One State, One Uniform’ policy, both major initiatives introduced by former minister Kesarkar have now been overturned.
