NCERT books in short supply

Schools have already started the new academic session, but students in the city are facing a shortage of NCERT textbooks for mathematics and history for secondary classes, leaving parents in a void.

Bookshop owners have either not received any supply from distributors or have got only limited stocks because of which parents are rushing from one place to another to find the books, but with little success.

A parent residing in southwest Delhi said, “The session has already started and I could not find a mathematics book for my daughter, who is in Class 6. Neither the school bookstore had it nor the 4-5 stores that we went to in different areas of Delhi. Maths is one of the mainstream subjects, the students will suffer if the books aren’t available on time as classes have already begun.”

However, NCERT officials maintained there is no shortage of printing or supply of books at their end. “There is no shortage at the NCERT’s end and adequate copies have been printed. This type of logistical problem arises sometimes, but is beyond the NCERT’s control. At times, the retailers develop a nexus with private publishers to hold supply of these books to encourage sale of their books,” an NCERT official said. “The supply at our end is up to the mark and those who are facing problems can also contact our distribution centres. Also all the books are available for download on NCERT website.”

Another parent said, “I had to get the book photocopied for my child from one of his friends who had managed to buy it. It is not possible to manually check out each and every store in Delhi to find out if a particular book is available or not.”

In some of the prominent schools, the bookstore owners said that they have been informed about enough books not being printed yet, but said the books will be available after April 15. Some of the book stores in Connaught Place and Patel Nagar areas said they are short of mathematics books from Classes 6 to 8 and history book for Class 9.