Parents flag high costs of books prescribed by private CBSE schools

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Parents flag high costs of books prescribed by private CBSE schoolsAs the 2026-27 academic session begins, parents across CBSE-affiliated private schools have been raising concerns over the cost of textbooks for Classes 1 to 8, alleging that they are being compelled to buy expensive book sets from private publishers, often through authorised vendors and changed annually. While a NCERT set for Classes 1 to 8 costs around ₹200- ₹700 depending on the class, private publisher bundles for the same levels can range between ₹3,000 and ₹10,000, often including workbooks, supplementary readers and stationery. This comes amid a regulatory gap as the CBSE mandates textbooks prescribed by the NCERT for Classes 9 to 12, it “strongly” advises their use in Classes 1 to 8. Though CBSE officials did not respond to HT’s queries, educationist MK Sridhar who drafted NEP 2020 said private schools are allowed to use different publishers’ textbooks till Class 8 “to avoid standardisation and to encourage creativity and innovation in textbooks.” Parents say they have little choice but to comply with prescribed lists, which are often tied to select vendors and bundled purchases. Aditya Kaushik, whose daughter studies in Class 1 at a private school in Haryana’s Karnal, said he spent ₹3,500 on a book set. “Schools restrict purchases to a handful of authorised vendors,” he alleged. Shyam Mishra, a parent in UP’s Ghaziabad said he spent ₹8,000 on textbooks for his son in Class 7 and ₹10,000 for his daughter in Class 8 in the same school. “It would have cost around ₹3,000 if the school was using NCERT textbooks only,” he said. Former CBSE chairperson Ashok Ganguly said making NCERT textbooks mandatory for all classes may not be feasible given the scale and diversity of the system. “It is neither possible nor feasible for a single organisation to ensure availability of books across the country in time,” he said, adding that flexibility is needed to avoid disruption of academic sessions.