Textbooks required by students in time for school reopening in Kerala on June 1 have been printed, Director of General Education N.S.K. Umesh has said.

Mr. Umesh was responding to fresh reports of delays in printing and binding of textbooks in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (May 19, 2026).

Mr. Umesh clarified that of the total print order, 76% were the titles required by students when they reached schools on June 1. Those had been printed and their distribution was on. Printing of activity books which would be required in the second week of June would be completed in the first week, he added.

He pointed out that every day, 6 lakh textbooks were reaching textbook hubs. “There will be no issue in completing the distribution by May 29 or 30.”

The Kerala Books and Publications Society (KBPS) had announced that it had completed printing of 2.8 crore first-volume textbooks required for the 2026-27 academic year for Classes I to X.

However, the INTUC-affiliated workers’ union at the KBPS had alleged that printing of only 2.85 crore textbooks of the print order of 3.58 crore had been completed, and 71,54,476 textbooks remained to be printed. Furthermore, binding of only 2.48 crore textbooks had been completed. Binding of over 1.08 crore textbooks remained.

K.K. Ibrahim Kutty, president of the KBPS Staff and Workers Union (INTUC), said the staff could bind only 3 lakh textbooks a day. “No way would they be able to complete the binding of the remaining textbooks by June 1,” he said.

He pointed fingers at KBPS chairman and managing director Sunil Chacko for the situation. “He should have got the previous Left Democratic Front government to clear the funds due to the KBPS and ensured paper procurement for printing the textbooks,” he said.

The KBPS plant, he alleged, was closed owing to lack of paper supply from Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd..

Charges denied

Denying the charges, Mr. Chacko said textbooks would reach school societies by May 26 at the latest. Of the total print order of 3.58 crore, 24% was for activity books. These too would reach schools in the first week of June since their printing too was under way.

He, however, admitted a lag in binding owing to the delay in printing of cover page but said it was making progress.

Mr. Chacko said he was confident that textbooks would reach school societies three or four days earlier this year than they did last year.

Supply of paper from Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd. had resumed on May 9. The second instalment of the pending dues to the company would be released in a couple of days, Mr. Chacko said.