In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tripura government would distribute free textbooks to 14,000 students enrolled in private Bengali medium schools of the state, education minister Ratan Lal Nath said. The decision comes in an effort to help students in 73 private Bengali medium schools who are facing difficulties amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown.
Nath added that an estimated expenditure of Rs. 60 lakhs would be required for this initiative.
‘In respect to the current Covid-19 pandemic, our government has decided to provide free books to all Bengali Medium privately run schools (Class I to VIII). There are approximately 73 schools with 14000 students. An estimated cost of approx 60 lakhs would be beared by our govt,’ Nath tweed on May 14.
In respect to the current Covid-19 pandemic, our government has decided to provide free books to all Bengali Medium privately run schools (Class I to VIII) There are approximately 73 schools with 14000 students. An estimated cost of approx 60 lakhs would be beared by our govt. pic.twitter.com/z4jCCyj5MA
— Ratan Lal Nath (@RatanLalNath1) May 14, 2020
The BJP-IPFT government had introduced NCERT curriculum and textbooks from Class 1 to 12 after they came to power in 2018.
‘We have introduced both NCERT curriculum and text books in our schools and even translated those books into Bengali. We are grateful to our teachers who had role in this job. In general, the private Bengali medium schools purchase these books. Only this year, we have decided to provide the books free due to lockdown situation,’ Nath told the media at Civil Secretariat.
The Minister further said that many of these school authorities had requested the state government to provide books during the lockdown, following which the decision was taken.
In Tripura, the state government and its aided schools have demanded 25,37,107 textbooks between class 1 and class 8. However, the state had placed an order for 26, 25,865 books this year, with the extra books for those who have difficulty finding them.
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