Chandigarh : Haryana government will provide free books to government school students from Class 9 to 12, state’s Education Minister Kanwar Pal announced Tuesday.

“Currently, the state government is already providing free of cost books, school bags, other stationery and uniforms to the students from Class 1 to 8. The decision to provide free books to the students studying in Class 9 and 12 in the government schools shall involve an expenditure of about Rs 41.47 crore”, the education minister said in a statement released this evening.

Kanwar Pal added that the Centre has recommended implementing ‘Rashtriya Shiksha Niti-2019’ for extending the scope of free education from Class 8 to 12.

“Haryana Government has already decided to adopt ‘Rashtriya Shiksha Niti-2019’ in the state. NCERT books are being taught in government schools of the state from Class 9 to 12, which costs around Rs 650 to Rs 700 per student per class. The number of students from Class 9 to 12 is 6,19,256 and expenditure of books is around Rs 41.47 crore,” Kanwar Pal said.

“Books for these four classes will be given to the students through libraries or book-banks. The pass-out students who get promoted to the next class will have to deposit the books of the previous class in the library or book-banks in order to keep the books for the next class. It will not only reduce the financial burden on the parents but will also help in conservation of environment as it will also reduce the cutting of trees,” added the minister.

Nuh district has already been declared as a regional-district by the central government, under which Rs 2 crore has already been provided for the provision of free books to prevent the drop-out rate.