Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan opens state-level text book distribution

KOCHI: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday inaugurated the distribution of the first volume of text books brought out by Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS).
First copies of the books were received by Sreehari and Aswini, students of Class IV and Class V, respectively, of blind school in Aluva. The books are being printed in three volumes.
The chief minister said that the first volume of a total of 3.23 crore books have been readied for distribution. Apart from these, 3,33,000 school books in Arabi, Urdu, Tamil and Kannada have also been printed.
"These books will be distributed before April 15. Books for students who will be in Class I to Class VII next year will be given on the final day of this academic year," Vijayan said.
Books for students to be in Class X will be handed over on the day the results of Class IX are published.
Minister for education C Raveendranath who presided over the function said that the state had received 82 points in the quality index brought out by Niti Aayog. "Since the text books are being distributed even before the start of the next academic year, classes can begin without hurdles," he said. The chief minister also released a special postal cover brought to mark the 40th anniversary of KBPS.
Earlier, speaking at the function to hand over keys of 28 houses for the flood-affected, built by Rotary International, the chief minister said special schemes would be envisaged to build houses for those not eligible to be included under the Life Mission scheme. The chief minister also handed over keys of 100 homes for the flood-affected built by Aster Homes. "The rebuilding of Kerala post-flood has turned out to be a model for the country. When the Rebuild Kerala was announced Malayalis worldwide supported the initiative wholeheartedly," the chief minister said.