Kerala CM to launch school textbook, uniform distribution on Friday

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the State-level distribution of textbooks and free school uniform for the 2026-27 academic year at St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom, on February 13.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty said an indent for 3.5 crore volume I textbooks and 1.9 crore volume II textbooks for Classes I to X had been given.

The Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS) had completed printing of 79 lakh textbooks, of which 55 lakh had been transported to textbook hubs.

The textbook distribution would be completed by the end of May, the Minister said underscoring that distribution of textbooks had begun three months before the start of the next academic year in June.

He said uniforms had to be distributed to over 8 lakh students as per details available from the website of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE).

Plus One texts

Mr. Sivankutty said new textbooks would be available for Class XI students from next year as part of the curriculum revision process. The higher secondary textbook revision was being done after a gap of 15 years. A meeting of the State curriculum steering committee had given approval to 41 textbook titles prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). These included all languages, Computer Science, Journalism, Home Science, Gandhian Studies, and Electronics.

The Minister said a decision on how to use the 44 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks titles in higher secondary would be taken after these were published.

The SCERT had earlier published additional textbooks in four subjects in the wake of NCERT effecting major cuts to textbooks.

The new Class XI textbooks were ready ahead of the SSLC examinations this year, the Minister said, adding that the new textbooks would be released soon.

In all, 20 lakh textbooks needed to be printed and distributed, the Minister said.