Parents forced to bear the brunt of ‘reference books’

Priya (name changed) a resident of Velachery said, “In July 2016, my domestic help came to me with a list of books prescribed by her child’s school. The list was of additional reference books for a Class 3 student, to be brought from a book store in Mylapore. As my domestic help was clueless about the books, I went to buy them for her. It cost around Rs 700. She had already spent more than Rs 2,000 for the same academic year’s text books and notebooks. If they continue this practise it take a toll on the parents and the family income. The students will also get confused with different books to study from.”    

S Arjun of Adambakkam had a bitter experience with his daughter’s school for questioning this practise. He was allegedly made to discontinue his daughter from studying in the private matriculation school following the incident. “It happened last year and my daughter was studying in Class 5. I questioned if the particular curriculum (Samacheer Kalvi) was inferior since the school subscribed to other books as well. Schools are doing this because the Samacheer Kalvi curriculum is more Tamil Nadu centric, especially for Social Science (History and Geography). Even among the schools which follow this trend, there is no uniformity and they ask parents to get book from several authors for the same subject. They teach few chapters from Samacheer Kalvi curriculum and the rest from private authors. Neither books are covered completely.” 

Sivaraman, Principal of V O C Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Vyasarpadi said, “Parents want the standards to be increased so we do give books to be used for additional reference." 

A top official of education department said, “There are a few books which are approved and written for Samacheer Kalvi curriculum. These recommended list of books are different versions of the syllabi. The names are updated on the official website. These books alone can be used.” 

However, another official commented that this practise is done largely by matriculation schools. “They claim to be coaching students better with additional books. But they are fleecing parents, which is one reason why uniform syllabus was brought in,” he said.