How Kerala Education Department’s folly prompted an engineer to develop a ‘Textbook App’

Kerala’s education scene is a circus, at least at the moment. The latest trapeze act centers around the administrative delay in bringing textbooks to school students.

Walking the tight rope are students who have already started expecting nightmares in the form of the first term examinations, which have incidentally been rescheduled to begin soon after the Onam holidays.

For the government, everything being done on this front seems to be hitting the hurdles. From social media attacks on Education Minister Abdu Rabb’s fool-hardy policies, to depriving more than 4 lakh students of all the Onam fun by setting exam dates soon after the vacations, the state’s education scene is witnessing the worst.

Rabb’s statement that “Onam arrives early this year” as an excuse for the delay in printing and distribution of text books is still laughing matter for all Malayalees in and out of Kerala.

It’s close to two months now since the academic year started. Students and teachers are running from pillar to post not knowing what to learn or teach.

The Minister, who ideally should have sprung into action, seems to be enjoying the fun. Adding to his idle demeanor, are the statements he spouts.

Though it’s all laughing matter to those standing and watching the Rabb circus from the gallery, the students have been pushed to much trouble. Textbook or not, exams will come, and they will need something to stay prepared.

As the clamor for textbooks rages, the state machinery has switched to being idle like never before. It is in this context that a young man named Moju Mohan thought he should do something about it.

The Thrissur based engineer has come up with a new mobile app that would help students from all classes access textbooks via the digital route.

Christened Paada Pusthakam (Text Book), the mobile app is now available for download at the Google Play Store.  Mohan has also made this available in his blog . So now, teachers and parents of students can download the text books concerned on their Android devices and let their wards learn.

If you go over to the PlayStore, you will get to see the app being described thus: This app provides easy accessibility of education department of Kerala. Application mainly focuses on satisfying students and their parents. Save your time rather waiting for textbook and achieve your service in spot. This app also provides all online education services, text book downloads, SCERT services, helpline numbers and so on.

So that’s about it. It is now your choice whether to wait for the text books to arrive or tread the tech route to find your books on the web or on your mobile. You can get your Paada Pusthakam here.

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