Kerala school textbooks may be delayed due to paper shortage, says KBPS union
Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS) staff and employees union president KK Ibrahimkutty told a TV channel here that the then General Education Minister V Sivankutty had said a month before the elections that books for all government-run schools would be distributed before they close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
“Only 20 percent of the books were ready at that time. With 3 weeks left for schools to start, only 70 percent were completed, but the binding work is on hold due to lack of paper to print the front covers,” Ibrahimkutty said. he said.
He said that even if the required amount of paper arrives, it will be difficult to provide books to students until schools reopen.
Ibrahimkutty claimed that in the current situation, when the new government comes, it will face a burden of over Rs 300 billion in connection with this.
He also claimed that the Left government has not been able to deliver books to students on time for the last 5 years.
“At present, there is no paper to print the front covers for the 70 per cent books which are ready for binding and to print the remaining 30 per cent books,” he claimed and said that the new government will have to carry out an urgent intervention in the matter to ensure students get books on time.
Before the elections, Sivankutty had claimed that books for all classes in government schools would be provided before the end of the academic year.
