State to print 5.03 cr textbooks for academic year 2023-'24

Vijayawada: The state education department is planning for the printing of 5.06 crore textbooks/workbooks for the students of Class 1 to 10 for the academic year 2023-24. For the Classes 6, 7 and 9, NCERT textbooks will be printed and supplied to the students. It is estimated that 40 lakh children are studying in the government schools and the textbooks will be printed for two semester system. Initially 4.83 crore textbooks will be printed and another five crore will be printed as buffer stock. The total number of books will be 5,03,29,517 text books/workbooks.

In case more children join the government schools, the additional five crore textbooks will be distributed. School education department is monitoring the printing of textbooks. As part of the Jagananna Vidya Kanuka kit the textbooks and workbooks will be distributed. For the convenience of Telugu medium students, some textbooks will be printed in both Telugu and English medium. For Urdu medium students, lessons will be printed in both Urdu and English languages.

Besides, 3,21,206 dictionaries will be distributed to the students of the government and aided schools.

By and large more than fiver books will be distributed to the students for the academic year 2023-24. The government is planning to distribute workbooks even before the beginning of the academic year.

Many students and teachers suffered in this academic year due to delay in distribution of workbooks. The education department is insisting that the teachers must correct the workbooks and check the home work and classwork of the students. According to Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the printing of books has already started. Orders were placed for the supply of 14,611 metric tonne newsprint for inside pages and 1,401 metric tonne paper for cover pages.