Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: The supply of textbooks and syllabi for Plus Two students might get delayed this year, thanks to the apathetic attitude of the government.

Ideally, students should get a copy of the syllabus at the time of junior college admissions, which is currently under way.

However, they are unlikely to get it in time as the Odisha State Bureau of Textbook Preparation and Production has already missed the deadline. Whatever stocks have been printed, constitute only a small portion of the requirement.

Because of this delay on the part of the textbook bureau, private publishers in the state have not been able to print the reference materials, which is mostly preferred by students in comparison to their prescribed textbooks. Since the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has made quite a few changes in the syllabi this year, the publishers are not willing to take chances.

“How can we start printing the guides and reference books unless we know the exact contents of the syllabus? This delay is an annual feature but in the previous years, we did not have to think twice before printing the books as the syllabi remained exactly the same,” said an employee of a Cuttack-based publishing house.

Though the CHSE has uploaded the course outline for science and commerce streams on the higher education department website (www.dheorissa.in), it is under immense pressure from various quarters. Arts aspirants, however, have no clue about the new courses of studies.

“We have heard that the syllabus has been revamped to a great extent from this year. Till now, only science and commerce syllabus has been made available on the website. But spare a thought for students in rural areas, who have no accessibility to the Internet. The council must ensure that students get a hard copy of their syllabus at least on the first day of class,” said P. Sudharshan, a parent.

Council officials said the arts syllabus would also be uploaded on the web in a day or two. “There are many subjects under this stream so it is taking a little longer. But students have nothing to worry about. We are doing our best to supply the syllabi to the students by August 26, a day before the Plus Two classes start,” said Jasobanta Behera, CHSE secretary, adding that over 2.70 lakh copies were being printed this year.

Insiders said this issue dented the credibility of the council. “There is no excuse for the delay but it can be avoided if the CHSE was allowed the freedom of negotiating with a private firm to print the syllabi and textbooks. But we have no choice but to give the printing orders to the government-run textbook bureau,” said a source.

An official of the textbook bureau said: “We have already printed the syllabi sought for by the CHSE in the first phase. However, the process is being hindered as the council has been making corrections and modifications to the syllabus.”