No new textbooks for basic education students this session

Agra: Students of basic education schools here will have to make do with old textbooks borrowed from seniors for the new session, which starts from April 2, as new books are not available.
Teachers, who were unhappy about the matter, said they would ask senior students to lend their books to juniors. The problem, they said, was not new as textbooks last year had arrived “only in October or November”.
The head teacher of primary school in Nala Budaan Saiyad, Rajeev Verma, said, “In Agra district, all the students would have to use old textbooks as the department has not provided any new ones for the students. I have requested senior students to leave their textbooks at the school, so that we can distribute them to the students,” said Verma.
“I enquired at the BSA office about the availability of textbooks, but nothing has been said to us so far. We have no choice but to use old textbooks,” he added.
Sanjeev Sharma, head teacher at Nagla Rambal Upper Primary School, said that the problem had become chronic as officials hardly took up such issues seriously. “Every student expects new books at the start of a new session but here students have to manage with old textbooks,” he said.
He added that he hoped the textbooks would arrive within 15 days of the start of the new session this time. “We faced a lot of problems teaching students using old textbooks as they are often torn and have marks on them.”
Asked about the matter, basic siksha adhikari (BSA) Agra Archana Gupta said, “We have not received textbooks yet. We have asked for the textbooks from the authorities concerned.” However, she refused to comment when asked by when the students could expect new textbooks.
Around 2.34 lakh students are enrolled with the basic education department in Agra, which consists of primary and upper primary schools. There are around 2086 such schools in Agra.