Office of the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi
1st October, 2019
Manish Sisodia inaugrates Mega Book Fair for Delhi Govt Schools
“Choose the books that will shape your students’ future, don’t give into lobbying”: Dy CM Manish Sisodia to govt. school heads
Delhi’s Education Ministry brings in a standardised way of procuring books for government school libraries
New Delhi: Deputy CM and Education Minister of Delhi, Shri Manish Sisodia, inaugurated the first day of the Mega Book Fair III at School of Excellence, Rohini on Tuesday. The fair that started on 1st October,2019 will go on till 11th October, 2019
With a total of 9445 books put on display at the Mega Book Fair III, representatives of all the 1024 government schools of the Directorate of Education, Delhi now have a responsible task of procuring the right books for their students. The plethora of books displayed at the event range anywhere from pre-primary, primary to senior secondary levels.
Highlighting the need to regulate the quality of books reaching the libraries of the government schools of Directorate of Education, Shri Manish Sisodia said, “It is a revolution in the system of libraries. This is an honest way of procuring books for our students based on their needs and also the requirement of the curriculum.”
“Introducing a platform which ensures transparency from both parties, the publishers and the schools concerned, also goes a long way in improving the quality of education imparted to the students,” said Shri Manish Sisodia.
Earlier, in the year 2016, each school used to make the purchase of books independently. The lack of proper mechanism involved in the procurement of books across these1024 schools of the Directorate of Education also resulted in more number of poor quality books purchased through lobbying and favours.
Advising a word of caution to the heads of schools against this illegal practice, Deputy CM said, “It is a huge responsibility for all of you here who are instrumental in picking up books for our students. Choose books wisely without falling into greed of any kind. It is the future of these students that you are going to shape by procuring the right quality of books into the libraries. So be careful.”
The Delhi Government has allocated Rs. 9 crores for the libraries of all the government school of Directorate of Education (for the academic year 2019-20), out of which 50% of the share will be reserved for classes 9th to 12th for subject reading, while the rest 50% will go to books used for general reading.
Along with hon’ble Deputy CM , Shri Manish Sisodia, dignitaries from the Delhi Government, Shri Ram Chander , MLA, Smt. Ranjana Deswal ,Special Director (Admin), and Shri Shailendra Sharma, Advisor to Director Education were also present at the occasion
The Heads of Schools accompanied by the Library Purchase committee will be visiting the fair that will go on till 11th October, 2019 and select their own basket of books.
The publishers will receive demands from the visiting schools entailing the title, subject and number of copies required which they will supply to the respective schools at their doorstep. Schools would then go on to release the payments of the publishers as soon as the books are delivered to them.
