Tamil Nadu school students will get books on reopening day

CHENNAI: With schools in the state set to open on Monday, the School Education Department will be distributing textbooks, notebooks and atlas to government and aided schools in Tamil Nadu.

As per the data from the department, overall 70.67 lakh students will be given textbooks in TN. And, 60.75 lakh students will be given notebooks and 8.22 lakh students will be given atlas.

As part of welfare schemes by the government, the government and aided school students are given free items such as textbooks, notebooks, uniforms, footwear, atlas, crayons, colour pencils, geometry box, bicycle among few other items. The stationary items among the list are given by Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation (TNTB-ESC).

For the current academic year, which is to start on June 10, the department has informed that students will get most items on the reopening date itself.

Though government and aided school students will get most items, private school students have to purchase them before the schools reopen. And, several parents have

alleged that the price of the items have drastically gone up.

As per the members of State Consumer Products Distributors Association, the prices of school-related items have shot up compared to last year. The notebooks from Rs 50 to Rs 80 last year have increased to Rs 60 to Rs 85.

Similarly, the price of school shoes has also increased between Rs 500 to Rs 1,700 from Rs 400 to Rs 1,200.

While the price of school bags has shot up to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,500 as the maximum price last year, the price of brown papers from Rs 10 to Rs 25 increased to Rs 40 to Rs 50.

As far as stationary, the price from Rs 10 to Rs 100 has increased from Rs 20 to Rs 100.