The district administration, which discontinued the sale of books through shops on Thursday evening over violation of social-distancing norms, on Friday directed school principals to facilitate book sale on campus in a phased manner.

Parents can come to the schools to collect the books between 7am and 12pm from April 27 to May 6.

Dhanbad subdivisional officer (SDO) Raj Maheshwaram on Friday held a meeting with principals and book sellers and instructed them to make a foolproof arrangement wherein books could be sold from the campus without flouting social-distancing norms.

The SDO instructed the school administration to allow only parents to come to the campus for buying the books.

“The information regarding the sale of books on the campus would be disseminated among parents by the school administration through WhatApp groups and other channels,” Maheshwaram said, adding that the classrooms might be used for the book-buying process to maintain social distance.

According to the schedule agreed upon, books of KG I and Class I will be sold on April 27 while the distribution of books for KG II and Class II will be carried out on April 28.

Students of Class III will get their books on April 29, Class IV on April 30, Class V on May 1, Class VI on May 2, Class VII on May 3, Class VIII on May 4, Class IX on May 5 and Class X on May 6.

“The discount on books will also be provided to students,” said Rajesh Gupta, president of Pustak Vyavsai Sangh, who was present at meeting.

“A separate date after May 6 will be fixed for those who fail to obtain the books during the allotted dates,” Gupta said.

He said books for classes XI and XII would not be sold through schools because students often used a wide range of reference books that could be purchased after the lockdown.