Shakespeare’s two classics — Merchant of Venice for Class X and Much Ado About Nothing for Class XII with annotated editions of Oxford University Press — are few of the widely available books in Jamshedpur. Picture by Bhola Prasad

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) changed its English syllabus as late as in February 2013, giving publishers hardly any time to print the required number of textbooks before the new academic year in March-April and leaving Jharkhand students in the lurch.

ICSE and ISC schools in Ranchi and Jamshedpur, affiliated to the CISCE, New Delhi, are impatiently waiting for new textbooks — ICSE Collection of Short Stories and Poems and ISC Collection of Short Stories and Poems, published by Inter University Press, New Delhi.

In a hotly debated move this February, the CISCE had trimmed its English literature content for students who will answer board exams of X and XII from 2015 onwards, indicating its bias towards the apparently more career-oriented maths and science subjects.

Principals, though not coming on record, say decisions related to syllabi changes are taken during October-November, giving time for books to be printed during the end of the calendar year.

Inter University Press has not been able to print and distribute copies of the new textbooks for short stories and poems in bulk, say booksellers in unison.

Bookseller Birendra Arora of Pustak Mandir, Upper Bazar, Ranchi, admitted students were returning empty-handed. “The collections of stories and poems for ICSE and ISC have not yet arrived. We have requested the Delhi-based publisher to supply them at the earliest and hope to get them this week,” Arora said.

“The publishers can’t deliver the requirement. It is being said the situation is because of the council’s late decision. We are constantly chasing publishers and hope at least one lot will be delivered within a week,” said Vimal Agarwal of Agarwal Book Store, Bistupur, Jamshedpur.

“We got one lot of the ICSE collection but have run out of stock already,” added Ritesh Kumar of Bharatiya Pustak Bhandar, Sakchi.

Principal Father Ajit Xess of St Xavier’s School, Ranchi, said they were in constant touch with Inter University Press. “They have assured us of adequate supply within 10-15 days,” he said.

Some schools are working out other solutions.

“Our school re-opened on March 11. We’ve downloaded poems and are teaching them in class, but many are unavailable on the Internet. But delays like these will hamper completing the syllabus on time. We are constantly chasing booksellers,” said Indrani Singh, principal of ADLS Sunshine School, Jamshedpur.

“We are stressing on language, grammar and drama for now,” said Hill Top School principal Puneeta B. Chouhan.

Students have no problem accessing William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (Class X) and Much Ado About Nothing (Class XII), both widely available in print and online. Schools mostly prefer annotated editions of Oxford University Press but many students rely on the Net for e-downloads, Wikipedia and SparkNotes. The other drama option for ICSE, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, a comic critique of war, also has student-friendly editions from publisher Orient Black Swan and a plethora of online notes.

Do you support the CISCE’s last-minute syllabus change?

Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com