Teacher Viral Video: Educator and poet Hitesh GyanKosh recently shared an Instagram reel where he sparked a national debate about the rising prices of school textbooks in private schools. He questions the price of class 5 textbooks in the video as if its cover is made of silver or has some magic through which students instantly know everything. These inflated costs are not just passing on to the parents but also increasing students’ backpack weight.
As soon as he posted the video on social media it got viral and gained 135,038 likes and 16.6k comments.
In the video, he said, “Today, I have brought the book of 5th class students. See, I will show you the special features of these books. The cover page of these books is made of silver. Oh, this is not there. So, if it is not there, then no problem. The pictures in these books are definitely made of silver. See this, I will show you. Okay, there is nothing like this.”
He continued, “So, I will tell you the special features of these books. As soon as the child holds these books in his hand, he will automatically remember these books in his mind. If this is not the case, then I want to ask you one thing. Why is the price of books for 5th class students around 6 thousand?”
This critique taps into a wider concern among parents and educators about the commercialization of education. NEP proposes a unified curriculum, called ”One Nation, One Class, One Curriculum, One Publication” While issuing a vision of what schooling should look like, there reality in several non-public faculty is anything else, with lockers full of specific, in most cases costly texts and fabric that institutions require to be purchased.
“While in the country, under the new education policy, one country, one classroom, one curriculum and one publication were discussed. By selling these books so expensively, the private school students are increasing the burden on the children. Secondly, they are increasing the burden on the pockets of the parents. Why are they doing this?” He added.
Netizens reaction
Many users filled the comment section with several comments. One user wrote, “Just leave this … Change courses every year so previous graders can’t share their books with next graders. Even the dress has started to be three weeks. We had a good time.” Another user said, “Private schools, bina chaku aur gun wale lootere h.” A third commented, “There should be a book bank in every school and books taken back from passing out students should be distributed to new students.”
Some users also shared the price of books for their children. One parent wrote, “Mene bhi li hai 3rd class ki exceed books 5800 and school se 2700 total 8500.” Another parent commented, “Mera ladka 2nd me hai . Uski.5500 ki hai.”
