According to sources in the education department, the vendor for the board refused to continue the services citing non-clearance of previous bills.
A meeting of the education officers regarding the same was held on Monday in Mohali to resolve the issue which is delaying the printing of textbooks.
Sources added that the board is facing a financial crunch, leading to pendency of bills.
An official privy to the matter said, “The board will take a call on whether to continue with the current vendor or replace him.”
When asked about the crisis, board chairman Yograj Sharma claimed that the issue was resolved. “We have made all the required arrangements and will get the paper soon following which books will be printed and distributed in schools in a week,” claimed Sharma.
The chairman added, “We already distributed textbooks among old students, only the new admissions are yet to get it.”
Bimonthly exams around the corner
Meanwhile, with only six days left for the bimonthly exams of Class 6 to 12, students in many government schools in Ludhiana are struggling with their preparations. While the state education department, with an aim to increase enrolment in government schools, allowed admissions to continue till July 31, PSEB announced bimonthly exams from August 5 to August 20.
Students will take offline bimonthly examinations and the results will be declared during the parents-teachers meeting on August 30, 31.
According to teachers, many students who took admission even two months before are awaiting their textbooks despite repeated requests to the department.
Notably, the students have been asked to prepare syllabus taught in April and May for their upcoming bimonthly exams.
“We are yet to receive English grammar, Physical education, Hindi Grammar for many Class-9 students while for Class-12, the English main course book, Maths (Punjabi), Science and Vangi are pending. Students cannot prepare for their exams properly without textbooks and many students don’t even have internet access at home to study,” said the school head of a government school in Ludhiana.
Sukhdarshan Singh, a teacher at Kot Mangal Government High School, Ludhiana, said that the government is promoting guide material by not printing the books on time.
“There is little time left in bimonthly exams but students haven’t received the books yet. There is no point in taking the exams when students are not equipped with the study material. Government has left no option with the students but to buy the guides to prepare for their exams,” stated Singh.
He added that when the government was keen on increasing enrollment and admissions were still on, the board should have made the required provisions to distribute the textbooks first.
Another school head of a government school with heavy enrollment said, “We have requested the education department to send us more books and uniforms for the new admissions. The admissions should have been stopped in June itself to avoid the mess. We faced the same problem last year too. ”
