U.P. primary students’ wait may stretch as approval for NCERT books awaited

Students will have to wait a little longer for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books of English, Hindi and mathematics, which are being introduced for the first time in the curriculum of classes 1 and 2 of 1.14 lakh government-run primary schools functioning under UP Basic Education Council across the state.
Books for classes 3 to 8 will be available on time for the new academic session of 2024-25 starting April 1. However, it will take longer for the new books to reach the students of classes 1 and 2, say state basic education department officials.
In coordination with NCERT, experts from the State Institute of Education (SIE) and the English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI), both units of State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), UP, have prepared books for all three subjects, but these books have not yet been approved.
After getting approval from the UP Basic Education Department, tenders for these books will be issued and after that it will be published. After the purchase order is issued, it may take time till the end of April or May 2024 for the books to reach the hands of the children, officials share.
Meanwhile, on the instructions of director general, school education, UP, Kanchan Verma, most of the Basic Shiksha Adhikaris (BSAs) have issued purchase orders to publishers for books from classes 3 to 8 for their respective districts as per norms by January 15.
All these books are to be supplied to the districts within 90 days with effect from January 10 while the workbooks are to be supplied within 120 days or four months. This virtually makes it clear that children will get books for classes 3 to 8 by the start of the new academic session on April 1, but it is certain that it will take more time for the supply of books and workbooks for classes 1 and 2.
This time, textbooks are being purchased for around 2 crore students studying in government-run primary and upper primary schools of the state based on the number of students registered on the designated Prerna portal.
In earlier years, book procurement was done on the basis of count of students in records as on September 30. Many times, due to information from some districts being more than the actual number, more books got purchased. Since the details of students along with Aadhaar number are now available on the portal, there will be no scope of wastage or deliberate inflated orders costing dear to the exchequer, officials say.
Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Prayagraj, Praveen Kumar Tiwari said purchase order for books and workbooks for classes 3 to 8 for 2024-25 session had been issued. With the start of the new session on April 1, students of these classes will have the new books, he added.