Head teachers in aided high schools are launching a protest against a recent government circular that asked them to pay with interest the price of unsold textbooks between 2010-11 and 2017-18.
Textbooks are given for free up to Class 8. Students in classes 9 and 10 are supposed to pay for them. Between the above-mentioned years, the school textbooks had changed twice. Those bought during the time thus remained unsold.
Functionaries of the Kerala Private Secondary School Headmasters’ Association pointed out that normally, the unsold ones in an academic year were kept aside for the next year. However, since the textbooks had changed during the period, the teachers did not know what to do with them. Many times, the textbooks arrived late, by which at least some of the students might have managed to get old ones from their senior students. They would not buy new books. Earlier, some of the unsold books were taken back by the government. For the past few years, this has not been happening.
Now, the head teachers have been asked to pay the price of the unsold textbooks to the government along with 18% interest. Since the order is applicable to the period between 2010 and 2018, teachers who retired recently too come within its ambit. Their gratuity payment is now blocked. The teachers are demanding that either the government take back the books or allow them to sell it for scrap. The price thus received can be remitted to the government. The association members held a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Director’s Office in Kozhikode on Saturday to mark their protest.
