Free textbook-shortage in schools but sold in MoE bookshops
View(s):Despite a massive allocation of Rs. 2,800 million for schools to print and supply free textbooks to the 4.3 million schoolchildren islandwide, many have not got their quota of books.
It is learned that, 6 months after the beginning of the academic year, some students in 10,062 schools still await their textbooks.
Meanwhile, teachers claim that it is difficult to teach students without the textbooks and workbooks. Gamagoda MV Principal Ananda Weerasinghe said there is shortage of books in Buddhism, Mathematics, Sinhala Language, English Language and History among others.
He said the problem is common to most schools and affects all 25 schools in the Dodangoda Education Zone, in the Kalutara District. “Perhaps the problem exists in all schools countrywide, because of the failure of the Ministry of Education (MoE) to distribute the books on time,” he said.
Moreover, the MoE is advocating that students use online books. “Not everyone can afford or have access to online data,” he said.
Meanwhile, Principal Weerasinghe said that, “Books that should have been distributed to schoolchildren are being sold in the MoE bookshops, price marked between R. 300-Rs. 450.”
- CC