It must be said the student community in Goa has been at the receiving end of several decisions of the government and its shortcomings. It may be recalled that for the first time, schools in Goa had advanced the new academic year to April from June for classes VI to XII as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP). Some parents had protested the change due to concerns about the hot weather. When schools commenced in June several schools in Goa, particularly government primary schools, were reported to be without proper roofing. Now it is learnt that there is a serious shortage of textbooks and that the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has directed printers to publish additional copies of Class XI Psychology and Class IX English textbooks. It is learnt that there is shortage of textbooks in several other subjects as well including Science, Hindi, English and Konkani for classes IX and X besides textbooks of French and Portuguese. The Education Department needs to assess the number of textbooks that will be needed by the students well in advance and inform the printers accordingly.
