Thrissur: In a big blow for schools following the Kerala syllabus, the state Textbook Office has directed them to pay the price of unsold textbooks for Standards 9 and 10, along with 18-percent interest.
The notice issued in this regard to schools from the Textbook Office says that the dues should be cleared by teachers who are the office-bearers of school societies.
However, school authorities point out that this would create a huge financial burden as the amounts which have to be paid since 2010-11 would come to several lakhs. For instance, Mar Augustine Memorial Higher Secondary School at Koratty in Thrissur district has been ordered to pay Rs 6,12,276, of which only Rs 2,31,551 comprises the price of unsold textbooks, while the remaining Rs 3,80,725 is interest.
The post of society president is occupied by school principals, while a teacher functions as secretary. In many schools, these office-bearers have changed over the years. But, unless the present president and secretary clear the dues, their retirement benefits could be blocked. Moreover, the schools may be denied the non-liability certificate.
In schools offering Kerala syllabus, textbooks are distributed free of cost to students up to Class 8 and at a price for those in Classes 9 and 10. Every year in November, school authorities take an estimate of the number of textbooks needed for the next academic year and submit an order to the Textbook Office. This order is only an approximate estimate and some textbooks remain unsold as a few students use old books.
Meanwhile, school authorities said that the Textbook Office regularly sent more textbooks than ordered and did not take back the excess books which remained unsold. Moreover, the entire textbooks were changed during the academic year 2019-20 and there was no more demand for books unsold during previous years.
Textbook Office’s response
At the same time, officials at the state Textbook Office clarified that the order applied only to schools which failed to deposit the money received by selling textbooks and those which did not return the unsold books. Societies in such schools should pay the cost of the books along with an interest of 18 percent, they said. “Schools which produce documents to prove that they have returned the excess textbooks from 2010-11 to 2017-18 need not pay any money,” the officials said.
After the change in textbooks during 2019-20, the unsold textbooks till 2018-19 could be declared as ‘dead stock’. However, a government order has to be issued for the purpose.
“If schools have sold a majority of the textbooks ordered from 2019-20, they need to submit only the amount received for those books,” the officials added. But schools which had placed huge orders will not be given this benefit, the Textbook Office authorities said.
Auditing of textbooks started in Kerala in 2018 after an observation from the Accountant General. Auditing for the academic years 2011 to 2018 was completed in 2019, following which the government collected dues amounting to around Rs 50 crore.