Book stores on school campuses have been selling textbooks since long. Little do parents know that this is a mere ploy to make profit by going against HC’s order. Rangoli Agrawal takes note
Private schools in the city have been blatantly flouting the state government’s norms and are continuing to sell books and stationery within their premises. Parents and guardians, who are unaware of such a ruling, are buying books from the stalls set up inside schools. These books are sold at MRP and no discount is offered on them.
“Some books are not available in the market. So, parents and guardians flock to the school bookstores to buy them. Even though the schools follow the NCERT curriculum in junior classes, students have to purchase private books, which are expensive. Three books for class VIII cost Rs 900. Everyone purchases them from the store and so do I,” said Nidhi Agarwal, a parent. Furthermore, some schools have found a loophole as the notification restricts them from running shops inside the campus. So, they recommend their preferred bookstores for purchasing textbooks. Dr Savita Arya, a mother of two, agreed saying that many private schools recommend a particular bookstore where the books are available. “I once asked the bookseller near my house about the books and he said that the books can be found only in the recommended bookstores,” she said.
She added, “The shop for my ward’s school is right beside the school. The set up there is temporary, as the main shop is somewhere else in the city. They take rooms on rent to sell books and stationery. They do it in the school every year, but have set it up outside the school this year.”
“Only two subjects are taught using NCERT books in classes junior to 9. The remaining subjects are taught from private books, which are not available anywhere else in the city but only in school bookstore,” Arya added. Schools are allowed to teach from private books, according to the guidelines issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education.
FOR BOARDERS’ convenience
School principals, however, claim to have no tie-ups with book sellers and for the uniforms. “The books that we teach from are by national-level writers and are available across the city. We have a in-house shop for the boarders who find it difficult to go out for purchasing books,” said Suniti Sharma, principal, Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School.
IT’s ILLEGAL
According to the guidelines, private schools cannot put pressure on parents to purchase books, uniform, shoes and stationery from them. Further, private schools cannot sell books and other materials inside the school campus. Also, private schools need to display list of the books, book writer, publisher and price of the book on the school notice board or publish it on the school website at least one month before the start of the new academic session. Schools cannot imprint school name on any of the study material and cannot ask parents to buy the same from any specific book store or shop.
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