Lucknow: Remember the times when students often began a new academic session with textbooks passed down by seniors or siblings?Today, this is almost rendered impossible by the alleged nexus of schools, booksellers and publishers, a quick TOI survey among parents revealed.Even if a student has some of the books used by an elder sibling, there are several complaints that parents are being compelled by many schools to buy an entirely new set from an authorised shop.In fact, the shops allegedly do not allow partial purchases and insist on selling the entire set prescribed for the class and refuse to provide the remaining books separately.There is another problem: Publishers changed 3-4 chapters in the older version of the same book.
As a result, parents are forced to buy books again.Schools are also recommending shops for buying stationery and notebooks. These shops sell them at inflated prices, which otherwise are available at much lower rates in the market. In some cases, the quality of notebooks is also poor.“At the parent-teacher meeting, we were given a pamphlet mentioning the name of the publisher and bookstore from where we had to buy the books.
I tried to purchase the prescribed books from Aminabad to get some discount, but was shocked to find that books were available only at the school-prescribed bookstore,” said a parent, Rakesh Kumar Singh, who is also president of a city-based school students parents association.Kumar has two children — one studies in Class VIII and the other in Class XI. The problem is more severe for Classes I to VIII.“For my younger child, the registers and notebooks prescribed by the school and sold at the school-recommended shop cost Rs 1,300, while similar notebooks and registers from other publishers were only Rs 600,” he claimed.Rajnish Rastogi, another parent whose son studies in Class VII, bought books costing Rs 7,800 and stationery costing Rs 2,400, while books for his daughter, a Class I student, cost Rs 5,500.“In total, I spent around Rs 16,000 only on books with zero discounts and my monthly salary from a private job is Rs 25,000 per month. Now, tell me how I will manage my home. Govt should regulate private schools,” he said.Parents also complained that a few schools run by missionaries, along with a book list, also ask parents to buy the school’s coffee table books and school merchandise like a mug.
Even stationery like geometry boxes, which are not required in junior classes.Another parent, Abhinay Rastogi, said, “We are really fed up with hearing ‘wahi milegi ye kitabe’. Even though we live in Aminabad, which is a hub of bookstores, the school-prescribed books of particular publishers are available only at the school-recommended shop.”Shipra Tiwari, another parent whose daughter studies in a prominent school in Gomtinagar, was also forced to buy books from the seller prescribed by the school because they were not available anywhere else.President of the Unaided Private School Association, Anil Agarwal, said, “We have called a meeting of all schools to take up this issue. Only 4% to 5% of schools are selling books on campus or are recommending book shops for the convenience of parents.” He also said that the association will propose in the meeting that books are not changed for at least three years and uniforms for at least five years. “Also, we will ask schools not to make stationery lists a must-buy for students,” he said.BoxPresident of the Unaided Private School Association, Anil Agarwal, said, “We have called a meeting of all schools to take up this issue. Only 4% to 5% of schools are selling books on campus or are recommending book shops for the convenience of parents.” He also said that the association will propose in the meeting that books are not changed for at least three years and uniforms for at least five years. “Also, we will ask schools not to make stationery lists a must-buy for students,” he said.
