Jharkhand to provide free textbooks for government school students: Report

NEW DELHI: Jharkhand government has announced to provide free textbooks for government school students. It is the only state in the country to provide free textbooks to all its students between Classes 1 and 12, as per The Telegraph report.

The report said that the state government would be providing free textbooks to all its over 7 lakh students of Classes 9-12 for the first time since it’s over two-decades existence.

The state earlier got the nod from the cabinet to distribute free textbooks to girls of Class 9 and 10. “However, we have sent a proposal for the distribution of free textbooks to boys of Classes 9 and 10 and all students of Classes 11 and 12. 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, The Telegraph reported.

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In July, the cabinet approved a proposal to provide free textbooks to students studying in Classes 9 and 10 in government schools. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

At present, Jharkhand provides free textbooks to students of Classes 1 to 8 in state-owned schools under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan of the central government.

From next year onwards, all students of Classes 9 and 12 will also be getting textbooks free.

“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,” the report further said.