Textbook shortage leaves PU students struggling as time goes by

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Over two months into the new academic year, Pre-University (PU) students in the city are still struggling to get their hands on first-year textbooks.

Despite the Karnataka Textbooks Society claiming they have met the government’s demands, local bookstores tell a different story.

The shortage is causing concern among students and educators as well. At Subhash Book Stores on Avenue Road, the store manager told News Trail, “We don’t have enough stocks of textbooks of all I and II PUC streams, but firstyear books are more scarce. Arts textbooks such as psychology, sociology, political science and Kannada are particularly hard to come by, and only a few commerce subjects are available. The only exception is science, which follows the NCERT syllabus, so those textbooks are fully stocked.”

Crossword Books stores echoed similar concerns, anticipating that the missing textbooks would only arrive in the next ten days. “This delay in textbook delivery has become an annual issue," said the owner.

"Every year, we have been facing the same problem: textbooks are either delayed or not delivered on time, and it’s the students who suffer the most."

Though the Department of School Education (PU) and KTBS have pointed fingers at each other, it’s the students who are left waiting.” One student, Anusha, a first-year arts student from Government Girls’ College Basavangudi expressed her frustration.

“It has been over two months, and I still don’t have all my textbooks. How are we supposed to keep up with our studies if we don’t even have the books? It was difficult during our Formative Assessments and our Summative Assessment is also nearing. We were clueless about what to do and how to study,” she rued.

Similarly, Lohit, a II PU student, said, “Without textbooks, studying has become a challenge. We’re forced to borrow old textbooks, but that’s not a sustainable solution.”

The blame game between the Department of School Education (PU) and KTBS has only added to the confusion. Sindhu B. Rupesh, Director of DSE Pre-University (PU), said, “We submitted the indent for textbooks by the end of July. There’s been no delay from our side, but KTBS is yet to deliver.”

Teachers are equally concerned. “The lack of textbooks is severely affecting the teaching process. We can’t cover the syllabus properly without the required materials,” said Ravi Kumar, a teacher from a Bengaluru PU college.

Another teacher, Meena Joshi, added, “This delay is not just a minor inconvenience; it’s impacting students’ academic performance and putting unnecessary pressure on them.”