Panipat: Getting NCERT books is a challenge for students

In Panipat and Sonepat, students have been having trouble obtaining NCERT textbooks for grades III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and XII. This year, the CBSE mandated that schools include NCERT texts in their curricula. The first day of the academic year was April 1, but there aren’t enough books.

There was a lack of books for science, math, English, and social studies for grades VI, VII, and VIII, as well as for a few topics in classes IX and XI, according to reports. The delivery of NCERT books was delayed for two primary reasons. Firstly, the NCERT decided on distributors later than usual this year. According to a book store owner who requested anonymity, they were selected in January or February this year as opposed to November or December last year.

The schools apparently didn’t make orders with NCERT distributors on time because of their relationships with private publishers. Parents may purchase books from certain stores in the city that have been recognized by the schools. A parent remarked that even with this knowledge, the government does little to target schools. “NCERT books are hit because private schools have partnerships with private publishers,” a store owner said.

A local neighbor named Lalit reported that his kid was in Class VIII, the new academic year began on April 1, and the school had assigned all of the NCERT books. Nevertheless, despite his visits to many book stores, new books were not accessible in stores. In the end, he was able to get his kid some outdated NCERT books.

Parents were looking for used books for different classes since there wasn’t enough different NCERT books available in the market, according to Rajesh Chandna, the head of a parents’ association that trades used books. The proprietors of a bookstore, Ravi and Happy Juneja, said that the NCERT books were not offered in the city. Parents said that despite the great demand for these books, they were forced to leave stores empty-handed.

Due to the lack of new books, a large number of parents were also asking questions regarding older NCERT volumes. NCERT book distributor Atul Chawla indicated that the supply was affected by the schools’ delayed purchases. He said that orders had been made for the books and that some Class VIII volumes would be arriving shortly. In addition, orders had been made for further classes. The distributor promised to distribute the books evenly among the store owners as soon as they arrive.