RAJBIRAJ, MAY 26

Eleven days into the new academic session, students are yet to get textbooks in Saptari.

Shortage of textbooks has hit students hard. There are 513 community and 177 private schools in the district.

Out of 100,706 students in community schools and 34,629 pupils in private schools, only 15 per cent have got textbooks till date. Students, teachers and parents visit stationery shops looking for textbooks, but have to return empty-handed.

Local parent Mukesh Mandal complained that the stationery shops always said that textbooks would be available in a few days.

Janak Education Materials Centre had set up a depot in Rajbiraj and sold the textbooks some years back.

Ministry of Education has directed schools to run classes for the new academic session, but Shortage of textbooks has hit classes hard, though.

Sanjay Books Store's proprietor Sanjay Sah said that negligence on the part of Janak Education Material Centre had made it impossible to deliver textbooks on time.

Chitwan has around 120 stationeries that sell textbooks from Grade I to X. The government has provisioned to provide textbooks to government school students for free. 'But, we do not get the textbooks even when we pay on time,' lamented a parent.

Parents' Association Saptari's former chair Radheshyam Raman said that centre was making one excuse after another instead of making textbooks available on time.

Sapatri District Education and Coordination Unit Chief Bijay Kumar Mandal said that he had taken initiative to provide textbooks.