Continental divide delays books

Chennai: International schools in Chennai that follow the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IG CSE), Cambridge University, usually face delays when it comes to delivery of their textbooks on time. Schools in the UK start only around September and their books usually go into printing late and since Indian schools start in June, there is an inevitable delay. Last year, Omega International School received their computer studies textbooks only in January, almost six months after the school re-opened. Mr Murali, the Computer Science teacher, explained that the class had to rely on finding resources from the Internet and when they received the books in January, they covered the portions they had missed.

When there is a delay, it is usually one month to three months, and during that time, school authorities get photocopies of a specimen copy for the students and make the necessary amendments prescribed by the board. Some schools agree that the situation was worse six-seven years ago and has since improved, as many more international schools have come into existence.“Since the demand has also increased, the books are mostly available. However, when a textbook is revised or a latest edition is published, it takes time to reach us,” said Ms Kiran Merchant, principal, APL Global School.

Ms Merchant also said some schools have a wider variety of subjects like sociology and child development. Since, not many schools demand these books, it’s not as easy to get them. Foundation Books are the most common providers of IGC SE books to schools in Chennai.According to its official, textbooks are revised every three to four years, which is when procuring books becomes an issue. He added that revised textbooks are only delayed by a month if published by Cambridge while other publishers usually take longer.