Lecturers, students suffer as free PU textbooks under Vidya Vikas Scheme delayed

Many PU colleges have complained about the delay in receiving free textbooks promised by the State government for this academic year.

In the last State budget 2026-27, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced to provide free textbooks for PU I and II students under the Vidya Vikas Scheme. Within the scope of the program, textbooks, shoes, socks and uniforms are given free of charge to students from the 1st to the 10th grade. This year, the program has been expanded to provide free textbooks to PU I and II students.

The scheme is expected to benefit 15 lakh students in Government and aided PU colleges.

However, nearly 20 days have passed since the start of classes and lecturers complained that textbooks for all subjects have not yet arrived.

A female student from PU college in Basavanagudi said, “My mother is a domestic worker and my father works in an automobile garage. I opted for the Science department. Studying has become a challenge for me due to the postponement of textbooks. Currently, I rely on written notes given by professors. Textbooks are expensive and we cannot afford to pay.”

AH Ningegowda, President, PU Faculty Association, Karnataka State, said, “Most of the students enrolled in our colleges come from the lower middle class or their parents work as daily wage labourers. They cannot afford to buy textbooks. After asking the government for a long time to provide free textbooks, they finally promised to provide textbooks for this academic year. But there is no communication on when we will get the textbooks.”

“The department found that even 25% of universities failed to provide textbooks at the beginning of the academic year,” he added.

Another lecturer from a college in Chikkaballapura said, “Teachers of other subjects like Accounts, Statistics, History, Economics, Physics etc. have started giving marks to students who do not have textbooks. But when teaching languages, it is difficult to manage without textbooks. We need to read lectures to students and we can achieve this with textbooks in front of them.”

He also said, “We will have trouble completing the syllabus before the Formative Assessment 1 (FA-1) exams begin. These exams are mostly held in late July and early August.”

To talk HinduA senior official from the Pre-University Education Directorate said that the textbooks were postponed due to administrative reasons. “This is a bit delayed as this is the first time we are providing free textbooks to U students. A total of 28 lakh textbooks are indentedThe books to be provided under the program have been referenced to the Karnataka Textbook Association (KTB). If more students sign up, we will have extra copies and there will be no shortage.Almost three to four lakh textbooks have reached colleges across the state. “We are primarily working on this issue and will ensure that the textbooks are delivered to students as soon as possible.”