Students encouraged to reuse books:

Dept saves millions on school textbooks

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

The trend among schoolchildren to reuse school textbooks has enabled the Education Ministry to save Rs. 1,000 million from the allocation made for printing school textbooks next year, Education Publications Commissioner N. M. J. Pushpakumara told the Daily News yesterday.

N. M. J. Pushpakumara

The Education Ministry has introduced a mechanism to avoid deterioration of school textbooks while getting the best use of school textbooks which are distributed free of charge each year by the Government, spending millions of public funds.

The Government allocates a considerable amount of funds every year from the National Budget for the provision of free school textbooks to students throughout the country including the North and East.

Therefore, the attention of educational authorities is being drawn by the Education Ministry towards the importance of making maximum use of textbooks and avoid unwarranted spoilage.

Accordingly, the Education Ministry has issued a circular to all principals and educational officials advising them to take measures to reduce the cost for textbooks by way of reusing them while bringing down the spoilage rate.

The mechanism at school level will encourage reuse of textbooks and achieve a minimum reuse rate of 35 percent, Pushpakumara said.

Under the guidelines of the circular, the Ministry has advised principals to summon a meeting of schoolchildren before the final day of the last term. The day is named as `Books Distribution Day’ on which the principals would advise the students the validity of using text books neat and tidy with care.

The students will then handover the textbooks that they use with care to their juniors. As a motivating factor the Ministry would offer gifts and certificates for students who have utilized text books carefully and neatly.

“As the final outcome the Education Ministry could reduce a considerable amount of national wealth spent on school textbooks annually.

Under this scheme, the Education Ministry saved Rs. 451 million in 2008 and Rs. 856 million in 2009 and expected to increase the saving to as Rs 1,000 million in 2010,” the Commissioner said.