The Maharashtra government has announced that state board textbooks will no longer have blank pages at the end of each chapter. This decision reverses a policy introduced in 2023. The school education department issued a statement confirming the change on Tuesday, January 28.
The new format will be implemented from the 2025-26 academic year. The previous policy was introduced through a government resolution (GR) dated March 8, 2023. It applied to textbooks for students from classes two to eight in state-run schools.
Deepak Kesarkar, the former school education minister, had announced the policy in 2023. The idea was to reduce the weight of school bags by allowing students to take notes in textbooks instead of carrying notebooks. However, teachers’ associations had repeatedly opposed the policy.
The decision was met with widespread criticism from teachers, parents, and education experts. Many argued that a few extra pages in textbooks could not replace notebooks. They also pointed out that students continued to carry notebooks despite the change.
The school education minister, Dada Bhuse, has now decided to withdraw the policy. The GR stated that the blank pages were introduced as a pilot project. However, an analysis showed that they were not used effectively. The move also failed to reduce the weight of school bags.
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