Three quintal textbooks end up as scrap in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal, Jan 18 (IANS) In yet another instance of the rot in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) (Education for All programme), textbooks meant for free distribution to students were seized from scrap dealer's shop in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur district, police Sunday said.

'A total of three quintal textbooks, to be distributed to the school students under the SSA, have been seized from a scrap seller at Akodia village in Shajapur district,' police said.

The books, which were meant to be distributed among the students of class one to eight free of cost under the programme, were seized when the stuff was being unloaded at the scrap dealer Chand Khan's shop late Saturday night.

Similarly, 14 quintal of government guide books, which had to be distributed free by the District Institute of Educational Training (DIET), were seized from a vehicle last year when these were being carried to a scrap seller's shop in Jabalpur town of the state.

Besides, a similar racket was unearthed in Betul early last year when many more books were recovered from a scrap storehouse.

A joint team of police and education department have initiated a probe.