Ludhiana, April 26 -- Nearly a month into the new academic session, students at government schools are still waiting for their textbooks. Despite a requirement of nearly 21 lakh books, only around 15 lakhs have been made available so far, leaving many children without essential learning material.

Teachers and principals have raised the alarm, fearing the delay may affect student learning, classroom progress and even enrollments.

Jagjit Singh Mann, district president of the Government Teachers' Union (GTU), said, "There are still entire subjects for which books haven't arrived. Teachers keep making repeated rounds to get the books. This should be sorted at the start of the session with block-wise counts."

Charanjeet Kaur Ahuja, principa...