Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], June 26 (ANI): Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, along with Ministers and officials, is leading Shala Praveshotsav - 2025 across Gujarat from June 26 to 28. As part of this, the Gujarat State School Textbook Board has completed 100 per cent distribution of textbooks for Standards 1 to 12 under the Free Textbook Scheme, even before the new academic session begins, a release said on Thursday.

Under the guidance of Education Minister Kuber Dindor and Minister of State Praful Panseriya, for the academic year 2025-26, approximately 4.5 crore free textbooks and around 1.5 crore priced textbooks, totaling over 6 crore textbooks, have been delivered to respective schools in advance to ensure timely availability for all students from Standard 1 to 12 across the state.

In addition, the Gujarat State School Textbook Board, Gandhinagar, has stated that to help students of Standard 9 and Standard 11 begin early preparation during the vacation, Standard 10 and Standard 12 textbooks are being provided in advance, the release stated.

Furthermore, as in previous years, the Board has completed the distribution of over 2.5 crore free textbooks for Standards 1 to 8 in Gujarati and other mediums at the taluka level as per school demands across the state. Similarly, for Standards 9 to 12, over 2 crore free textbooks in Gujarati and other mediums have been 100 per cent distributed to schools through the School Development Complexes (SDCs) across Gujarat before the reopening of schools.

The Textbook Board prepares textbooks for Standards 1 to 12 in Gujarati and six other mediums and provides them under the Free Textbook Scheme to students of government, non-granted, model schools, KGBVs (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya), and all departmental ashram schools. Additionally, textbooks have been delivered on time for students of Suman Schools, Gujarat State Open School, and extra classes in government and non-government schools approved by the government.

After the completion of board examinations in March 2025, all priced textbooks for Standards 10 and 12 in Gujarati and other mediums have also been made available in the market in adequate quantities as per distributor demand.

Additionally, over 1.5 crore priced textbooks have been made available from the Gandhinagar warehouse to all 39 registered distributors across the districts of the state, for the first time within less than a month, and before the start of the distribution process, based on their specific demands. All Gujarati medium textbooks from Standards 1 to 12 were supplied to the 39 district distributors in two phases within just 7 days. These distributors, in turn, ensure delivery to local stationery shops and book vendors in their respective districts. In the third phase, the supply of priced textbooks in six other mediums, along with Gujarati medium textbooks from Standards 1 to 12, was also completed. Thus, all distributors in Gujarat received textbooks in both Gujarati and six other mediums for Standards 1 to 12 promptly as per their requirements, ensuring early availability across the state.

If there is any difficulty in obtaining priced textbooks from the market, individuals can contact the Sales Depot of the Textbook Board at Nirnay Nagar, Ahmedabad, during office hours via phone or WhatsApp. Textbooks will be made available through retail sales with a 12.5 per cent discount.

Furthermore, the Gujarat State School Textbook Board has adopted an online and digital platform-based system for managing office, warehouse, school demands, and distributor orders. As a result of this transparent paper procurement process implemented over the past two years, the Board has achieved a significant saving of approximately Rs 225 crore compared to previous years. This efficiency has enabled a reduction of around 45 per cent in the prices of newly introduced textbooks, leading to a direct financial benefit of over Rs 32 crore for both students, parents, and the state government, according to the Board. (ANI)