Exams from July 5, students yet to receive textbooks in govt schools

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 1

While the Education Department is leaving no stone unturned to convince parents to enrol their wards in government schools, there is a questionmark on the facilities available in these schools. For example students of government schools in the district are yet to receive textbooks of many subjects for their forthcoming exams, which are going to commence from July 5.

A teacher at a government school said books of science and maths subjecys were yet to be given to students. "In such scenario, how can they take the online exam when textbooks have not been distributed so far?", said the teacher.

“The department has focused all its attention in enrolling more and more students in government schools, but the textbooks have not been printed in sufficient numbers. If the department had the plan to increase enrolment, it should have got the books published in bulk. The parents are approaching us and we are telling them to take help of guides and wait for the textbooks, which is unjustified,” said the teacher.

Another teacher complained that as far as the quality of education is concerned, Punjab is far behind other states. “There are no qualified teachers, vacancies are there in schools, books are not available on time etc. The department should focus on quality instead of enrolling more and more students”, rued the teacher.

The students are yet to get books for subjects such as science, maths and social science and these are being sent in instalments, said the teachers.

Sukhdarshan Singh, a teacher at Kot Mangal Singh, said the department has a list of all students and at least basic books should be provided to them. "Six months have passed, students are yet to get the books, how can you expect that they will perform well in exams, starting from July 5", asked the teacher.