School notebooks standardised

The minister further informed the state government was keen on taking similar steps as Karnataka which has already standardised size of notebooks has already been implemented in Karnataka, and Maharashtra is keen to follow the same. “Some of the unscrupulous note book dealers sell a book of say 192 pages for a higher cost even though the paper size is smaller; this way they make a lot of money and students are unknowingly fleeced,” explained Deshmukh.

The minister also stated that every note book should also have only 20 horizontal lines andone red coloured vertical margin at the left side. “The maximum retail price of the notebooks (which will be available in multiple number of pages) will also be decided by the state for the benefit of the students,” the minister said.

On the action against professors teaching in coaching classes, Deshmukh informed, “All the eight zonal committee heads from the state met today and decided various ways to destroy the nexus between college professors and coaching classes. It was also decided that all the erring teachers will have to sign on a Rs 20 stamp paper stating that they shall not teach in private tutorials. The rest of the teachers will have to give an undertaking on plain paper,” he said.

An official from the education department will be appointed in every district to look into the complaints received in this regard. He also informed that so far 11 city professors have quit their respective colleges after they were served with a show cause notice for teaching in coaching classes. Two moreteachers have resigned in Pune.