NCERT text update: 1 crore books obsolete
New Delhi: Come the 2018-19 academic session, close to one crore unsold National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks will become
obsolete as texts are being updated for the upcoming year. While textbooks
becoming redundant during update is nothing new, what is unusual is NCERT’s
huge inventory of unsold books.
“A rough estimate suggests that Rs 25-30 crore
worth of books will become obsolete in the new academic session,” said a senior
NCERT official.
This is the first major update of NCERT books in
seven years involving all texts. Last year, NCERT commissioned a print run for
4.6 crore textbooks. HRD ministry sources said nearly a crore of these books
have remained unsold.
‘Obsolescence numbers for year 2017-18 unusually
high’
According to NCERT sources, the number of
redundant books could be over a crore. The final count will be known only after
the council receives data of unsold books sent to various locations and dealers.
In 2013, it was decided that data in the textbooks would be updated annually.
But the ongoing updation is a bigger exercise. It was also decided that the
council, while ordering new editions, would keep a cushion so as to avoid
scarcity of books. “While books of previous print run becoming obsolete is
nothing new, the 2017-18 cushion seems unusually high, resulting in a bigger
loss to the exchequer,” said an official, on condition of anonymity.
On February 8, 2018, TOI had emailed a
questionnaire to the director and spokesperson of NCERT seeking answers on the
criteria based on which the print run is decided. The council was also asked
about the fate of books unsold from the 2017-18 reprint. However, no response
was received from the council. NCERT started taking online requisitions from
2016. In August 2017, it launched a portal for schools and individuals to raise
indents for textbooks. This year, so far, NCERT has commissioned a print run of
5.6 crore textbooks against a requisition of 2.6 crore books by schools and
individuals through the online mode.
Source | Times of India | 20th February 2018
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
No comments:
Post a Comment