Patna High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to immediately make textbooks available to government primary school students.

A single bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Anand Kaushal Singh.

The state government provides free books to students from classes I to VIII. The petition by Kaushal said the students have not been provided books though classes have begun.

Besides, the books reach students in October-November because of a very tardy rate of publication by the Bihar State Text Book Corporation (BSTBC), making the entire expenditure and exercise meaningless.

"While the school session in Bihar begins in April, the BSTBC issued modifications in the tender process as late as on April 5 this year," an education department official said. "No wonder, books get published late." The issue was earlier raised in the state Legislative Assembly, but the problem continues on one pretext or the other.

The court directed the state to take effective steps to supply books to the school immediately, additional advocate general (AAG) 15 Ashutosh Kumar Pandey said.

The bench also expressed its concern over studies getting hampered because of non-availability of textbooks in schools.

The court also ordered for holding extra classes to compensate for studies hampered because of non-availability of books, Pandey said.

Earlier, on June 12, the bench had directed principal secretary, education, R.K. Mahajan to be personally present in court on June 13 to explain why a resident was compelled to file an application seeking relief of the nature as in the present application.

Mahajan appeared before the bench on Tuesday and filed a counter-affidavit in the case related to non-availability of textbooks for students in government primary schools.

The court allowed the counsel for the petitioner to implead BSTBC, through its managing director, making him a respondent in the case.

The bench, however, dispensed with the personal appearance of Mahajan for the present. The matter would again be heard after four weeks.

Education initiative

To overcome the problem of non-availability of textbooks, the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC) has initiated a novel initiative to supply old books to students after collecting them from students who have completed course and passed out from school. However, BEPC hopes to derive benefits from this in a better way from next year.