The High Court on Tuesday said the state government should ensure supply of textbooks to students of classes 9-10. A division bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and P Krishna Bhat said attendance and imparting of education could be meaningful only if students have the textbooks.
The court was hearing a PIL filed last year seeking for providing online classes to underprivileged children and children studying in government schools. The court was not satisfied with the statement filed by the state government on the issue of supply of textbooks.
The additional government advocate informed the court that physical classes for students in 9-12 standards have started and gradually attendance of students will increase. It was further submitted that a decision regarding starting classes for 1-8 standards will be taken in the meeting to be held on August 30. The government said that the textbooks will be supplied in a phased manner and supply completed by September 30.
The bench noted that education officers in taluk level can send textbooks in PDF format to the students who have necessary gadgets and efforts should be made to provide print-outs to those who do not have gadgets. The government was also told to ensure that textbooks are available in the open market for the students of classes 11-12.
The court directed the state government to submit a status report on progress made on supply of textbooks in government and aided schools till August 30.