PUNE: The state primary education department will distribute Balbharatri textbooks to schools in the forthcoming week from the taluka level.
Balbharati has also created a cellphone application (E-Balbharati) for e-learning content, available from std I to XII in Marathi and English. The registration fee to access the content is Rs 50.
The state government’s school students get free textbooks and self-study books under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
“Arrangements are in place for the distribution of books from the godowns to talukas and further on to schools. The taluka level officials have been instructed to take the utmost care of books during transportation to ensure that they are not damaged, especially due to rain,” Dattatraya Jagtap, director of the primary education department, said.
The education officers at the taluka level and transporters have been told to adhere to the deadlines in delivering the books. The e-tender for the transportation is given to Mumbai-based Shirish Cargo.
The SCERT and Balbharati have digitised their learning content and provided PDFs of the textbooks.
Balbharati has developed a cellphone app (E-Balbharati) which can be downloaded on the Android platform.
User response and reviews indicate that the application has teething problems which Balbharati is working to resolve.
The app also provides a facility for grievance redressal through WhatsApp and e-mail. “The app is fairly new. As our user base expands, we expect to receive more feedback. Our backend team is constantly working to resolve issues raised by the users. We have also established a helpline where users can post their queries or technical difficulties and our experts will help in resolving them,” said Dinkar Patil, director of Balbharati.
