It’s an entirely strange start to the new academic session for thousands of students from around 60 CBSE and CISCE schools of the district without textbooks.

Thanks to the lockdown, textbook outlets are closed.

Parents now are demanding that they get textbooks delivered online so that their kids can study and work on assignments given by teachers on virtual platforms such as school apps, Skype and Zoom.

Virtual classes started in almost all private schools from the last week of March itself.

Lawyer and parent Bishwajit Bhattacharjee told The Telegraph that his daughter is a Class V student of a CBSE school. “She was excited about new class and new textbooks. The government should consider launching a home delivery service for textbooks or open book shops for limited hours because otherwise students are facing a lot of difficulty. Some fortunate ones had procured books before the lockdown was announced or have elder siblings who had the books, but for the rest, studies are difficult.”

Srikant Singh, the manager of a pharmaceutical company, agreed. “My children study in Class IX and Class VIII in CBSE schools, both are facing a lot of difficulty in studies during the lockdown. They don;t have new books.”

Former president of the Federation of Dhanbad Zilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rajesh Kumar Gupta who is also the president of Pustak Vyavsai Sangh, said: “The problem being faced by the students is real as due to the lack of books at their disposal they are baffled on how to pursue their studies.”

He added: “We would request the district administration to allow the home delivery of books as the book sellers are ready to deliver to the books at the door steps of students.”

Dhanbad SDO Raj Maheshwaram admitted the problem. “We are exploring the option of providing books through schools that will carry out class-wise distribution of books among parents of students. But allowing book shops to open will make it tough to follow social distancing and may require cops to be deputed.”