Provide text books in a week, Naveen tells officials

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday directed the concerned officials of School and Mass Education and Higher Education departments to make text books available for the students within a week.

While reviewing the progress in text book distribution in the state, the Chief Minister emphasised timely distribution of text books in both the departments.

Though Plus II classes have already started, text books are yet to be available in the market.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, School and Mass Education minister Debi Prasad Mishra, said, “The Chief Minister has directed us to expedite the text book distribution process.”

Higher Education minister Pradip Panigrahi said, “Text books could not be distributed in time as the academic committee did not submit its report in time and there was delay in the printing process. That is the reason all the books could not be printed by the scheduled time of July 15.”

“Now we have asked the concerned officials to finish the work in time,” Panigrahi added.

Among others, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and Director of Text Book Bureau Gitika Patnaik were present during the review meeting.