Jamshedpur, May 14: The Jharkhand State Minority Commission expressed dissatisfaction over the non-availability of NCERT textbooks in government schools of East Singhbhum district.

During a review meeting held at the local circuit house, chairman of the state minority commission, Nirmal Chatterjee, pulled up the officials of the education department for their failure to provide NCERT textbooks in government schools even after the commencement of the academic session.

The two vice-presidents of the commission, Vishwanath Rath and Mohammad Qayamuddin Khan, with deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum Nitin Madan Kulkarni were present at the meeting.

The panel was surprised to find that none of the government schools had received NCERT textbooks for Class IX. The new syllabus for Class IX was implemented from in current academic session. Chatterjee directed the deputy commissioner to ensure that the NCERT textbooks arrives during the ongoing summer vacation so that once classes resume, students should not face any difficulty.

The panel also took to task the education department officials for not ensuring appointment of teachers in government-recognised Urdu schools. There is an acute shortage of teachers in Urdu medium schools across the district.

It was brought to the light of the panel that the district education department had failed to do much in providing vocational training on computer science to 30 teachers of various minority schools. The state welfare department had sanctioned Rs 2.50 lakh for training and had also appointed an NGO. What irked the commission most was the absence of officials from the police department at the review meeting.

Neither the SP nor any other senior officials from the department made it to the meeting.

Talking to The Telegraph, Chatterjee said: “The commission has taken strong exceptions to the fact that none of the officials from the police department turned up at the meeting. We are going to report this matter to the chief minister and the welfare ministry,” he said.

A delegation led by national president of Secular Social Organisation (a national-level social outfit) Nasar Firdausi met the members of the minority commission and handed over a memorandum highlighting the plight of Urdu schools in the district.