Tussle Continues ....

A tussle between managements of private schools and State government over the use of government textbooks for pre-primary classes has created confusion among parents. Though the academic year started in the first week of June, private school managements are finding it difficult to handle the situation following pressure from the State government. The private schools already distributed textbooks among students that have been published by private publishers and are not in a position to convince parents on the use of government textbooks. The private school managements have been arguing that they were only informed about the mandatory use of government textbooks in mid May. “When the mandate reached private schools, they already placed orders with private publishers in February, 2015,” Telangana Recognised School Managements Association general secretary Kadari Anantha Reddy said.

On the other hand,the State government was insisting on use of books prescribed and published by it. Reddy said that the private school managements were not against the State government’s move, they just need one-year exemption. Taking the issue forward, the State Education Department authorities conducted surprise checks and seized private textbooks. The State government’s move is being seen as usurping the rights of private schools given to them by virtue of GO 1 under which private institutions can use their own text books. Anantha Reddy said that private schools were anyhow using the government provided textbooks for upper primary classes (VI to X standards) but seeking relaxation of one year for pre-primary textbooks.

The private school managements get their own books published by different publishers in accordance with the syllabus provided by the State Council for Research and Training (SCERT). The curriculum and topics would be in the elaborative forms unlike the government textbooks. Moreover, the printing of textbooks is carried out by the publishers certified by SCERT. There are nearly 20,000 private schools across the Telangana. Whereas, Government Textbook Press director B Sudhakar said that about five publishers were given a contract for printing of government prescribed syllabus. They published about 1.15 crore books to be sold to private parties. He informed that all the publishers have already paid the royalty amount of Rs 3 crore to the government and they are now selling the books.

Notwithstanding to the controversy between private school managements and the State government, some parents associations have filed a writ petition in High Court seeking exemption from usage of government textbooks for one year. If the private schools stick to their stance, publishers who have published the government books would have to incur a loss. Similarly, if government imposes its order, all the private school managements have to buy books once again and ultimately it would affect parents and students.