Plus II students have to buy new books this year

BHUBANESWAR: The students of the 2012-13 academic session under the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) will no more be able to borrow books from their senior batch.The tradition of the seniors passing on their books to their juniors will have to stop from this academic session. With the change in the course format of the CHSE, every subject material will be rewritten by the Board of Writers (BoD) assigned by the council. The council has decided to change its course pattern to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) model so that students can score more marks.Accordingly, all textbooks will be rewritten. The senior officials at CHSE said the rewriting is almost over for  five subjects of three streams - science, commerce and arts. Only the work on English is left.The Odisha State Bureau of Textbook Preparation and Production (OSBTPP) is responsible for the printing and distribution of the textbooks. “In the coming academic session, we are expecting around 2.90 lakh students to enrol for Plus II courses. This year, the students will have to purchase new books as they have been rewritten,” said CHSE secretary Jay Krushna Mahapatra.Jyotishree Mohapatra of Purnachandra Vidyalaya, Raghunathpur, has appeared for HSC examination and  is expecting to get admitted to a good college for Plus II. However, she is not aware of the complete change in the textbooks.  “I had heard that there will be changes in the textbooks, but do not know that there would be a complete overhaul. We will have to wait for books to arrive in the college library,” said Jyotishree. This shows not everyone is capable of affording a complete set of new books.Now every student will have to buy the books. The officials at the council are hopeful that the books will be ready before the admission process starts and much before the academic session begins.The OSBTPP will produce new books according to the demand of each subject. They know which books are in high demand and print accordingly. This year again, the council will not recommend additional books to the students.“The books prescribed by the CHSE are enough for the students to score good marks,” explained Mahapatra.