Kochi | A senior INTUC leader and president of the KBPS staff and employees union on Thursday alleged that books may not be available on time for students of government-run schools, set to open in 3 weeks, due to a lack of paper.

K K Ibrahimkutty, the president of the Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS) staff and employees union, told a TV channel here that then General Education Minister V Sivankutty had said a month before the elections that books for all state-run schools would be distributed before they closed at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

"At that time, only 20 per cent of the books were ready. With 3 weeks left for the opening of schools, only 70 per cent have been completed, but their binding work is on hold due to a lack of paper to print front covers," Ibrahimkutty claimed.

He said that even if the requisite amount of paper comes, it would be difficult to provide books to students by the time schools reopen, he further claimed.

In the prevailing situation, when the new government comes, it will face a burden of over Rs 300 crore in connection with this, Ibrahimkutty contended.

He also alleged that in the last 5 years, the Left government had not been able to provide books on time to students.

"At present, there is no paper to print the front covers for the 70 per cent books which are ready for binding and to print the remaining 30 per cent books," he claimed and said that the new government will have to carry out an urgent intervention in the matter to ensure students get books on time.

Sivankutty, prior to the elections, had claimed that books for all classes in government schools would be provided before the end of the academic year.