Parents in the Tricity who are already suffering under the burden of hefty admission fees and dozens of ‘funds’ of private schools are now groaning on hearing the rates of books. All books, stationery and dresses are also being sold without bills. Due to which the administration is being fleeced of crores of rupees annually. The administration seems helpless in front of the setting of private schools and book sellers. Children are not getting rid of heavy school bags due to commission. For the first time in the Chandigarh administration, the charge of Director of School Education and Collector of Excise Department is also on the same officer. Even after that the situation remains the same.
Before that, the excuse used to be that a letter has been written to the Excise Department regarding tax evasion and selling books without bills. But this year, the responsibility is on only one officer. Due to commission, the burden of school school bags is becoming heavier. The books which the children do not even need are being bought due to commission. As soon as the month of April arrives, the heartbeat of parents starts increasing. Despite there being hundreds of book sellers in the city, parents are forced to buy books from only a few select shops. Due to the setting, the maximum number of parents are gathering at a shop in Sector-19. Parents from Mohali, Zirakpur, Derabassi, Panchkula are reaching this shop to buy school books.
There are groans coming out after hearing the price of books
Obviously, this is having a direct impact on the pockets of the parents. People who are already struggling under the burden of huge admission fees and dozens of ‘funds’ are now groaning on hearing the rates of books. The situation is such that books for the lowest class like nursery are available for Rs 2800 to Rs 5000. Whereas all the books of BA final are available for just Rs 2860. This is not all, parents have to buy a set of LKG books for Rs 3400 to Rs 3600. If you go a little further towards the higher classes, the scenes of the schools’ arbitrariness start becoming more clear.
Ask the school
When I tried to talk to some book sellers, they said that whatever you want to know about the rates of books, you should go and ask the school authorities. The sellers said that all the decisions from selection of books to fixing their rates and giving discounts on them are now in the hands of private schools. The book sellers are only distributing books in exchange for commission.
Government orders did not reach the ground
After the uproar of the parents, the Chandigarh administration washed its hands off the matter by issuing notices to 2-4 shopkeepers. In the matter of books, statements of Chandigarh administration education department officials are often seen in newspapers that strict action will be taken against schools that use books of other private publishers instead of NCERT. The truth is that in almost all private schools, expensive books of private publishers are being used openly but the strictness of Chandigarh education department is not visible anywhere. Some big schools of the city argue that when pulses, sugar, labour, i.e. everything is getting expensive then naturally the rates of books will also be expensive. But they have no answer to this.
The books change every year
Chandigarh resident Krishan Lal and Panchkula residents Rakesh Aggarwal, Subhash Papneja, SK Nayyar raised the question that one thing is not understandable that why do the schools change the books prescribed by them every year. Rakesh said that if the education department makes any changes in the syllabus then it is understandable for the schools to change the books but what is the meaning of changing the same syllabus and publishers of the books every year?
Administration’s guidelines have been issued but not implemented
Subhash Papneja said that the administration has issued guidelines to the book sellers but has not issued any helpline number or phone number for the parents. So that if any book seller misbehaves with the parents, they can contact the administration. The Chandigarh administration should issue a phone number or helpline number for the parents. Such guidelines have been issued earlier also but no one follows them. The administration should take strict action against them.
Notices issued to many shopkeepers
Harsuhinder Pal Brar, Director School Education, said that no book dealer can force anyone to buy register copies or other items other than books. We have also issued notices to many shopkeepers. The education department will also make surprise visits to book dealers and if anyone is found violating the rules, the department will take strict action.
