Procure appropriate books for libraries, don't give into lobbying:Sisodia to govt school principals

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday urged Delhi government school principals to choose books for their libraries that shape students' future and asked them not to give into lobbying. During a special book fair organised for the school principals, he said, "With a total of 9,445 books put on display at the mega book fair, representatives of all the 1,024 government schools now have a responsible task of procuring the right books for their students. The plethora of books displayed at the event range anywhere from pre-primary, primary to senior secondary levels.

"It is a revolution in the system of libraries. This is an honest way of procuring books for our students based on their needs and also the requirement of the curriculum. Choose the books that will shape your students' future, don't give into lobbying," Sisodia said. He made the remarks at the inauguration of the book fair at government-run School of Excellence in Rohini.

"Introducing a platform which ensures transparency from both parties, publishers and the schools concerned, also goes a long way in improving the quality of education imparted to the students. "Earlier, in 2016, each school used to purchase books independently. The lack of proper mechanism involved in the procurement of books across these 1,024 schools of the Directorate of Education also resulted in more number of poor quality books purchased through lobbying and favours," he said.

Advising a word of caution to the heads of schools against the practice, Sisodia said, "It is a huge responsibility for all of you here who are instrumental in picking up books for our students. Choose books wisely without falling into greed of any kind. It is the future of these students that you are going to shape by procuring the right quality of books into the libraries. So be careful." The Delhi government has allocated Rs 9 crores for the libraries of all the government school of the Directorate of Education (for the academic year 2019-20), out of which 50 per cent of the share will be reserved for classes 9 to 12 for subject reading, while the rest 50 per cent will go to books used for general reading.

The school principals accompanied by the Library Purchase committee will be visiting the fair that will go on till October 11 and select their own basket of books. The publishers will receive demands from the visiting schools entailing the title, subject and number of copies required which they will supply to the respective schools at their doorstep. Schools would then go on to release the payments of the publishers as soon as the books are delivered to them.

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