Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Congress has accused the Gujarat State Textbook Board of profiteering by selling textbooks at inflated prices despite reducing content.

Addressing a press conference, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Hemang Rawal said: “The Gujarat State Textbook Board is making a profit by selling books at high prices. While older books had more pages, the new ones have fewer pages but still cost the same, leading to undue profit. After a scam involving the purchase of expensive paper was exposed in 2023, paper was procured at half the price in 2024. If the paper was bought at half the price, then a 50% reduction in book prices should also be provided.”

“After 2023, several chapters or units in textbooks for standards 6 to 12 were removed. A circular stated that these reductions were made to ease students’ learning burden under the Rationalised Content in Textbooks initiative. In line with this, NCERT published updated textbooks for these grades,” he added.

Rawal said, “In 2023-24, the Textbook Board fixed the tender for paper at Rs 108 per kg. For the past 15 years, this tender was awarded to a single agency, even though other suppliers were willing to provide the same quality paper for Rs 87 per kg. Despite this, the board continued to procure paper at Rs 107 per kg. The issue was later taken to the High Court. Following Congress’s revelation of the issue, a new tender for books to be sold in June 2025 showed that the Textbook Board is now purchasing 70-gram quality paper at Rs 53.50 per kg. This procurement change has resulted in a profit of Rs 275 crore compared to previous years. Additionally, the Textbook Board—whose core objective was to function on a no-profit, no-loss basis—now holds a reserve fund exceeding Rs 300 crore.”

Providing an example the congress leader said, “For instance, the old Mathematics textbook for Standard 10 had 318 pages (weighing 830 grams) and was priced at Rs 126. Under the revised syllabus, the book now contains only 230 pages (weighing 605 grams), yet its price remains unchanged at Rs 126. This suggests that the Gujarat Government’s Textbook Board is making substantial profits at the expense of students and parents,”

“The cost of textbook production is jointly covered by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Office of the Commissioner of Schools, and the Secondary Education Board. Thus, these books are produced through the combined financial contributions of the Central and State Governments, funded by taxpayers. After last year’s scam revelation, the Textbook Board has saved 50% on paper procurement costs. To ensure that this benefit reaches poor and middle-class students in Gujarat, the Congress has demanded that book prices for all subjects from standards 1 to 12 be reduced by 50% in 2025, benefiting lakhs of parents and students across the state,” Rawal further said.  DeshGujarat