TN: Action on textbooks disposal deferred

CHENNAI: The State government will not take any action regarding the disposal of the uniform syllabus text books printed so far, till the next hearing of the case on June 8, the Madras High Court was informed today.When a public interest writ plea from PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for the Common School System, seeking to restrain authorities concerned from disposing of the uniform textbooks already published  as per the approval of the State Common Board of School Education and Joint Director of School Education (Secondary) came up today, Advocate-General A Navaneethakrishnan produced a letter signed by the school education secretary to a vacation bench comprising Justices V Ramasubramanian and GM Akbar Ali, today. Recording the submission, the bench adjourned the matter till June 8. The main prayer of Babu was for a direction to the government to continue the existing uniform syllabus textbooks.Entertaining another PIL from advocate K Suresh of Human Rights Protection Centre-TN, the bench directed AG Navaneethakrishnan to furnish details  on the notification issued by the TN Text Books Coporation inviting tenders for printing of books.The interim prayer was to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the notification dated May 21 last. The main prayer was for a direction to the government to re-open schools in the State on June 3 and to use books now available for standards I to X as per the syllabus of the USE for the academic year 2011-12. It was apparently clear from the tender document that the books for the present academic year would be ready by the end of September, after the quarterly exams. This would render more stress to students and they would not be in a position to study for the period until the books were printed. The new government had unnecessarily interfered with the education policy and created a dubious situation, he contended. As the government had invited tenders in a short span of time, bidders had formed a syndicate and quoted higher value. They demanded Rs 200 as against normal price of Rs 34. It will not be possible to print the books before June 15, he contended.