Jagatsinghpur: Flouting existing norms on procurement of books under Samagra Siksha scheme for the school libraries in this district, some of the administrative officials here are pressuring schools to buy books of their choice, many teachers have alleged.
All the schools in the districts have received their shares out of about Rs 60 lakh grant-in-aid provided by the government for procurement of books for their libraries. But, many of the school teachers in this district have said that a conspiracy is afoot to bar the schools from buying books of their requirement.
According to a headmaster, Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) has provided the fund under ‘Samagra Siksha (Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat) scheme for procurement of books for libraries at government primary, upper primary and high schools February 18, 2019.
The administration has allocated Rs 6,980 each to the schools having Class I to Class VIII and Class IX-X each, Rs 4, 980 each to schools having Class VI to Class VII, Rs 2, 980 each to schools having Class I to Class V, Rs 11, 980 each to schools having Class VI to Class XII and Rs 9, 980 each to schools having Class VI to Class X have been given.
It can otherwise be mentioned that schools with Class I to Class VIII have received a grant of about Rs 40 lakh and high schools have received a grant of about Rs 20 lakh.
The schools have been asked to buy books considering the age group of students and those published by NCERT, NBT, State Government publications and SCERT. It has also been mentioned that with the help of National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL), a section of National Book Trust India, steps would be taken for forming ‘readers club’ at each schools.
The schools cannot buy any newspapers or magazines with this grant in the first year. The schools will create two reading periods in a week. A teacher will be entrusted with the extra job of managing the library. He will issue and receive the books.
District project director and district education officer have issued these directives to primary and high schools.
While the planning is yet to take off, many have doubted its success.
Some teachers wishing not to be named said centre resource centre coordinators (CRCC) and block resource centre coordinators (BRCC) are said to be trying to supply books of a particular publishing house to the schools.
On the other hand, teachers are planning to buy some books different from those ones in their libraries.
If the CRCC and BRCC are successful in their move, there is chance that the school libraries will have similar books, they alleged.
Yet, they dare not to go against the CRCC and BRCC as they fear they might be their targets.
Recently, a meeting was convened at Tirttol and was attended by several headmasters of the area. They were told that the publishers have stocked up books at some areas and were asked to get them after paying for them through cheques. Some of the headmasters expressed their concerns, but were not listened to.
However, sources in the district education office said a committee has been formed. This committee will decide the books to be procured as per the age groups. A list will be prepared and it will then be sent to the collector for his approval. And then only the schools will be asked to buy books of their choice.
When contacted, district project coordinator of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Sapan Kumar Jena said the funds have already been sent to the schools. “No agreement has been reached with any publishers. The allegations are purely baseless,” he said.