Kerala textbook controversy turns violent

The controversy over the delay in printing textbooks for students of government-run schools in Kerala took an ugly turn on 6 July when police used lathies, tear gas shells and water cannons to chase away marches taken out by the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists in various parts of the state. The marchers were demanding the resignation of the education minister, Abdu Rabb.

08 Jul 2015 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma

In Thiruvananthapuram, the activists, who tried to take out a march to the secretariat, were prevented by police personnel. Angered over this, the students hurled stones at the police.
 
Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said a high-level probe will be ordered into the inordinate delay in printing and distribution of school textbooks. The chief minister made the promise at a meeting with the Kerala Students Union (KSU) leaders.
 
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has demanded a judicial probe into the education department’s move to entrust a private press with the printing of textbooks. He said education minister PK Abdu Rabb should be removed from the post. “The distribution of textbooks was purposefully delayed for getting commission,” he said.
 
Earlier in the month of June 2015, a controversy broke out with the Kerala government’s decision to outsource the printing of textbooks, instead of ignoring the proposals to enhance the efficiency of state-owned Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS), which was created exclusively to print textbooks.
 

Printing to be completed soon

Meanwhile on 8 July 2015, the Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS), the government-owned press at Kakkanad in Ernakulam district of Kerala, in charge of the printing of the textbooks, told the media that they will be completing the task by 18 July. The press is currently working in three shifts.

The official said around 3.46 crore textbooks are being printed, 2.21 crore in Volume-I and 1.25 crore in Volume-II. The KBPS has been awarded the contract to print 1.728 crore textbooks in Volume-1. The remaining work was initially given to other government presses, and was later controversially given to private parties. Following protests over the high rates charged by a private press, the contract to print 50 lakh more textbooks was also given to the KBPS.

According to KBPS officials, around 1.25 crore textbooks in Volume-II are to be supplied only in November.

While the average price charged by the KBPS is Rs 3.24 per book, the state government gave the contract for printing the remaining books for Rs 9 per book, at a loss of Rs 6 per book.

The KBPS officials attributed the failure to complete the textbook printing in time to the delay in getting the print order and the late arrival of printing paper. “Normally, we get the print order in September. But this time, we got the order only in October, and the paper arrived only in February,” they said.

The textbooks are being printed for aided and unaided schools that follow the SCERT syllabus. Once the printing is completed, the textbooks will be sent to 14 hubs, one in each district.