Textbook shortage hurting schools

GUWAHATI: Classrooms across the state have been hit by a shortage of textbooks as the Assam State Textbook Production and Publication Corporation (ASTPPC) has not received enough paper from paper mills to print them.
The ASTPPC said it would work on a war footing in the next 10 days to dispatch the entire quantity of textbooks required by students up to Class X. "Delay in the delivery of paper has caused this problem.We are trying our best to get the required paper within a day or two. Hopefully, students should get the remaining textbooks by the end of January," ASTPPC MD Partha Pratim Mazumdar said on Thursday.
Catering to students from Class Ka to Class X, the ASTPPC needs to print 3.25 crore books. Due to the shortage of paper, it has dispatched only 1.80 crore books so far. While the corporation is yet to dispatch 28% of the books required by students of Class Ka to Class VIII, the shortfall in Classes IX and X is much higher - around 70%.
Activists of the Students' Federation of India burnt the effigies of education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in protest against the delay. "The new academic session started on January 1. The delay in distribution of textbooks has affected classroom teaching across the state," the SFI said.