Students in government schools and intermediate colleges of Jharkhand will not have to purchase textbooks.

The Jharkhand government would be providing free textbooks to all its over 7 lakh students of Classes IX-XII for the first time since it’s over two-decades existence. It is the only state in the country to provide free textbooks to all its students between Classes I and XII.

“We got the nod from the cabinet earlier this year for distribution of textbooks to girls of Classes IX and X and have already started distributing from this academic session. However, we have sent a proposal for the distribution of free textbooks to boys of Classes IX and X and all students of Classes XI and XII. We expect to get a nod from the cabinet anytime and will start distribution of the textbooks from the next academic session (2022-23),” said director secondary education, Jharkhand, Harsh Mangla.

Sources in a private leading educational consultancy firm having network across all states claimed that Jharkhand would be the only state in the country doling out free textbooks to all its 45 lakh students between Class 1 and XII.

Significantly, the Jharkhand cabinet in July this year gave a nod to the distribution of free textbooks in Classes IX and X of government schools for all categories of students.

Students at a government school. Bhola Prasad

At present, Jharkhand provides free textbooks to students of Classes 1-VIII in state-owned schools under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan of the central government. In this, 60 per cent of the amount is borne by the Union government, while the remaining 40 per cent of the expenditure is borne by the state.

From this year, the Jharkhand government from its own exchequer has started providing free textbooks to girl students of Classes IX-XII studying in government schools.

From next year onward, even boys studying between Classes IX and XII will also be getting textbooks free.

“The state government will bear entire expenditure incurred on this account. There are nearly seven lakh students between Classes IX and XII in Jharkhand,” said a senior official in the state education department.

Textbooks for Classes I to XII published by JCERT will also be available for sale in the markets. The tender process has been started for the selection of publishers for the publication of books for the academic session 2022-23. These include books provided free of cost to children in government schools.

At present, the tender process has been started for publishing books for 45 lakh students.

The state government takes copyright from NCERT for publishing the textbooks for Classes IX-XII. For this, the state government gives five per cent of the expenditure on the publication of books to NCERT in the form of royalty.