Half Textbooks: Less Heavy Bags For Karnataka Kids
The students of Karnataka may not know whether a half girlfriend is loyal or not, but they will know that Half-Textbooks are going to be so much beneficiary to them.
The government of Karnataka, due to lack of raw materials have come up a new idea of Half-Textbooks. In this the Education Department has decided to split the textbooks in two parts, supplying each in two installments in an Academic Year. This is a blessing for the students of Class I to X as now their bags are going to be lighter by 2-3 kgs.
“We couldn’t have waited for all the raw materials to arrive. It could have delayed the printing process,” said Tanveer Sait, Primary and Secondary Education minister. “We decided to divide the books for each semester and print the first batch. By June-end, we will be through with the printing of the second half and it can be bought and used for the second semester,” he explained.
“Textbook printing has a budgetary allocation of Rs 165 crore, annually. From Class I to X, textbooks are printed in 511 different titles for various subjects. A few even have to be translated into eight languages. Every year, Karnataka requires about 6 crore textbooks,” said a reputed publisher revealing the amount of work load during the printing process.
“An average textbook has between 100 and 120 pages. Some go up to 300-350 for subjects such as mathematics and science. Protective bindings add to the weight, which averages around 200-350 gm considering that a student carries six textbooks, the books alone would weigh about 2.5 kg. This along with notebooks and other accessories would make the bag weigh at least 7 to 8 kg,” he said.
Looking at these facts, it’s not wrong to say that dividing the books in two different parts is going to be a bonus for the students as their bags are going to be lighter by 50% and the books are going to be lighter by 100-150 grams, taking the whole as 1-1.5 kgs.
On one hand, where this is an aid for school students, it’s a hindrance for the printers. Dividing 6 crore textbooks in two half, which currently uses 20,000 tonnes of paper, this plan is going to be very costly. But as this is a positive change to the society, minster Tanveer Sait has said to look into the issue so as to keep it a beneficiary step for everyone participating in it.
“There is no doubt the move would help kids and parents. But printing two books would make us bleed economically. We have to spend twice on printing and transportation. Already, the textbook tender that quoted Rs 50,000 per tonne has been escalated to Rs 67,000. Raw materials have become expensive and there has been a shortage of pulp and water due to consecutive drought across Karnataka. We hope that the government would take note of this and compensate up for the loss incurred,” said a printer.
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