Uttarakhand Education Department delays delivery of books, parents worried

Several parents have started complaining about the delay in delivery of academic books for their children. The department had planned to deliver books to the students free of cost, but the implementation of the project is taking longer than expected. The state education department sends money for the books through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme directly into the registered bank accounts of the students, but there were complaints that students were finding it difficult to buy books especially due to the Covid-induced lockdown. The department, therefore, decided to deliver the books to the students. However, the department is yet to provide schoolbooks to the students which is hampering their education. The tender process is not completed yet and it is expected to take another month to deliver academic books to every child. The plan to carry out this task is yet to be finalised. The state education secretary had directed the officials on June 22 to start the tender process and complete it in a span of seven days, but it has not been done yet.