Dehradun: In a meeting with district magistrates via video-conferencing on Saturday, education minister Arvind Pandey reiterated that only NCERT books should be used in schools across the state from the new academic session. He also directed the officials to constitute special teams for inspection drives to check whether the rule is being followed.The minister said, “NCERT books will be made mandatory for all classes from the next academic session. At present, it is compulsory only for classes 9-12. However, we have been receiving complaints about non-compliance in some schools. District administration should ensure that this does not happen.”“A government order has been issued to directly deposit money for textbooks in the accounts of students. However, linking of Aadhaar with these accounts is mandatory to receive the benefit,” he added.Elaborating on the decision to provide money rather than textbooks, Pandey said, “This will help us in many ways. The most important thing is that we will get the exact number of students buying books. It will also prevent schools from inflating prices and the government will save the transportation cost involved.”Meanwhile, the notification issued by the state government making NCERT textbooks must in all schools has been challenged in the Uttarakhand high court. The petitioner, a private school, has alleged that the direction from the government amounted to “discrimination against private publishers.” Recently, the court had asked the state government to file its reply by April 2 and posted the matter for next hearing on April 3.

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