NCERT textbooks are available for less than Rs 500, but CBSE schools are charging Rs 6,000-7,000
Over 300 parents from across the country, including a representation from Mumbai, will march in protest to the office of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in New Delhi on April 6. The parents are objecting to the Board's failure to implement its own circular on making it compulsory for schools to use only NCERT textbooks.
On February 21, the CBSE, with a view to standardise the curriculum across schools in the country, released a circular making it mandatory for all schools under its ambit to use textbooks prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for Classes 1 to 12. The decision was applauded by parents who were being forced to pay several times more as schools sold books published by private publishers.
Parents, however, are saying that despite the circular, schools continue to charge huge amounts for books even as NCERT books are available at cheaper rates. "We were hoping that the schools fall in line and stop selling books by private publishers. However, that has not happened and parents are having to shell out almost 10 times more money. Parents are not going to keep quiet as schools continue to mint money from such practices," said Shivani Jain, President of the All School Parents Association (ASPA), a pan India body aiming to highlight this issue, is leading the protest.
Jain said that most schools in the country are charging anywhere between Rs 6,000-7,000 for a set of Class 4 textbooks even as the same set prescribed by NCERT costs less than Rs 500.
Several parents from Mumbai have raised similar concerns over schools overcharging for books, stationery, and other items while making it compulsory for parents to buy these things from the school itself. "A large number of schools are overcharging for school equipment. Parents are not given the option to buy books from outside," said Anubha Sahay, executive member of Education Popsom — a Maharashtra-based parents' association — who would join the protest in Delhi.
In 2003, the Maharashtra government had issued a government resolution which stated that schools could not make it compulsory for parents to buy any additional items from the schools. However, activists have said that schools are failing to comply. "Schools are looting parents by overcharging for textbooks, shoes, stationery, uniforms etc. Most schools put their logos on the textbooks prescribed by the respective boards and sell them at much higher rates. We have received several such complaints from across Maharashtra this year, and plan to raise a petition in the Bombay High Court," said Jayant Jain, President, Forum for Fairness in Education, a city based NGO.
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