Guidelines issued by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) regarding the sale of books will prevail, said UT education secretary BL Sharma on Tuesday. “We have only agreed to sell books to parents who wish to buy them from the school,” he added.
On November 16, the UT education department asked private schools in the city to get consent from parents whether they wished to buy books from the school and would only provide for them.
In April, CBSE issued circulars to private schools to not coerce parents into buying non-NCERT or books prescribed by CBSE after a number of parents complained about schools forcing them to buy books from them. However, in August, CBSE amended the circular and stated that schools could open tuck shops to sell stationery and other material. Sharma said, “Schools gave us a representation, but we are yet to decide on that. Anyhow, they will have to comply with CBSE norms.”
PRIVATE PLAYERS RULE THE ROOST
Several schools in Chandigarh do not recommend NCERT books. They have their own set of books published by private companies, thus burning a hole in parents’ pockets. However, HS Mamik, president of Indian Schools Association (ISA), blamed it on NCERT.
“Books published by NCERT have several mistakes that we have pointed out in the past. We even wrote to CBSE, but there has been no action on the matter,” said Mamik.He added that NCERT books were used for Classes 9 to 12. “But for junior classes, we have our own set of books and will continue with them.”
{{/usCountry}}“Books published by NCERT have several mistakes that we have pointed out in the past. We even wrote to CBSE, but there has been no action on the matter,” said Mamik.He added that NCERT books were used for Classes 9 to 12. “But for junior classes, we have our own set of books and will continue with them.”
{{/usCountry}}NCERT BOOKS FAR CHEAPER
Books published by NCERT are far cheaper that those recommended by schools. For Classes 1 to 5, each NCERT book costs around Rs 30. Higher up, some books for Class 6 also cost Rs 15.
For example, the NCERT mathematics textbook for Class 1 costs Rs 30 while ‘Grow with Numbers (5-7 years)’ published by Amity for Vivek High School for 2017-18 costs Rs 360 on online shopping portals such as Amazon. Some books prescribed by schools are not even available online.