Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jun 8: Steps have been initiated to ensure that textbooks for all secondary and elementary schools are directly procured from the NCERT and made available across the state within this month, Education Secretary Madhu Rani Teotia said.
Speaking to The Arunachal Times on Thursday, Teotia informed that the textbook procurement process will be completed within this month, before the commencement of the current academic session.
“With the state government’s recent announcement, a major hurdle has been cleared in the way to achieve improved quality of education in the state,” she said.
Commenting on the reports of unavailability of NCERT textbooks in various schools of the state, particularly in the remote areas, Teotia said, “Till 2006, books were procured directly from the NCERT, but for the past three to four years the ministry was unable to do so because of funding issues. This resulted in delay in the procurement process, and hence books remained unavailable in some parts of the state.”
The education secretary revealed that the state government had earlier this year proposed the idea of letting the information and public relations & press directorate publish NCERT books but the plan failed.
“Also, in December 2017, the state government proposed to sign an MoU with the NCERT, as per which NCERT books would have been published in the state itself; but unfortunately, the plan never materialized,” she added.
She said the state government has earmarked sufficient fund in the current fiscal for the purpose and there would be no delay this time round.
“The education ministry held discussions with the NCERT authorities, urging them to accord priority to the state, considering its genuine issue. As of now, NCERT books have reached the regional NCERT godown in Guwahati, and will soon be dispatched to various parts of the state,” Teotia said.