Assam Rushes to Print Additional Free Textbooks Amid Surge in Student Enrollments

Guwahati: Following an increase in the number of students in government and provincialized schools in the state, there is additional demand for free textbooks. To meet this demand for additional text books, the Assam State Textbooks Production and Publication Corporation Limited (ASTPPCL) is taking urgent steps in this regard.

With the start of the new academic session, many students raised the issue of not receiving textbooks in a statement released publicly.

In response to the statement, ASTPPCL stated that prior to the start of the new academic session in April, the corporation started printing free textbooks in December itself. However, it is not possible to determine the number of textbooks that will be required, as data on the number of students going to be enrolled in the new academic session is not possible in the month of December itself.

Moreover, the admissions process for the new academic session continues until April- May in most of the schools. The number of additional textbooks required for the new students is printed in the second phase.

As per the Shiksha Setu app, a total of 2,94,12,300 free textbooks were required for the 50,77,720 students enrolled in the academic session of 2024–25. It was stated by the corporation that the required number of books were printed and distributed.

On the other hand, the number of students enrolled in Classes XI and XII was stated to be 3,79,710, and the free textbooks required for these students were 28,29,622, as per the Darpan portal. 75% of the textbooks needed for Class XI were printed and distributed, and 90% of the textbooks for Class XII were printed and distributed, respectively.

The corporation also stated that the process for publication of the textbooks required for the increased number of students enrolled in Class XI was started following a direction from the state government. As the process of admission goes on indefinitely, it is a complex process to determine the number of textbooks required as per the students’ needs.

Now that the need for more textbooks has arisen, the corporation has started the process of printing the additional free textbooks.

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