Gaya, March 4: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students in Gaya would face a severe shortage of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) text books once the new academic session starts in April.

Books for classes I to X, especially classes IX and X, are yet to reach the market, which has bothered not only the booksellers but also parents and students.

Every year, NCERT appoints dealers in prominent cities across the country. The dealers send the books requisition according to the demand in the first week of January. The first lot is supplied within 15 days after NCERT receives the requisition list.

However, this year, the requisition was sent in the first week of February, as an agreement letter from the NCERT to the dealers was sent late. Therefore, the supply of the first lot of the books also got delayed. Moreover, this year less than 50 per cent of the requisition has been supplied in the first lot. While every year around 75 per cent of the requisition is supplied in the first lot.

The dealer in Gaya, Abhay Kumar, said: “NCERT, Calcutta depot — from where the books are supplied to Gaya — has assured us that the second lot will be sent in the second fortnight of this month.” He added that the required number of books was not supplied in the first lot.

Gaya is a huge market for books. Retailers from not only Gaya but Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Nawada, Dehri-on-Sone and Sasaram also purchase books from the dealer in the pilgrim city.

Ajit Agarwal, the owner of Sahitya Sadan bookshop, said according to estimates there is a market available for the NCERT books in Gaya that is worth Rs 2 crore. Apart from the two Kendriya Vidyalayas, about 100 CBSE-affiliated and non-affiliated private schools running in Gaya, have also adopted NCERT books because they are available at very low prices. However, NCERT books are always in short supply and are rarely available at the start of the academic session.

Apart from regular students of different classes, the NCERT books are also in high demand among those preparing for competitive examinations like public service commission, bank probationary officer, staff selection commission and others. The short supply often paves way to book piracy.

This year, there is an acute shortage of books of almost all the subjects of Class IX. For Class X, the books except that of mathematics and science are in short supply.