Students of the University of Madras Institute of Distance Education (IDE) programme said that they have not received hard copies of their study materials for over a year. Varsity officials said that they couldn’t float tenders to select publishing firms as the vice-chancellor post remains vacant.

Students who took admissions in IDE courses last year are yet to receive hard copies of the books, but this did not deter IDE from conducting the semester examinations. As the IDE was unable to publish books and give hard copies to students, it handed out soft copies due to which many students didn’t attempt the exam.

“I am in the fourth semester now but I’m yet to receive my second semester books. There is a WhatsApp group in which we get regular updates about classes and examinations. In that group, we only received soft copies of study materials for the second and third semesters. It’s not at all feasible to take printouts of over 2,000 pages when I have paid a course fee of Rs 15,000,” said a student of Masters in Journalism at IDE.

IDE director says tenders floated, selection process in final stages

As, I found it difficult to study with material in PDF format, I did not attempt the last two semester examinations. It’s high time that the IDE provides us proper books,” she added.

“For the past year, we have been requesting hard copies but all our appeals have fallen on deaf ears. IDE is a major source of income for the varsity. Despite collecting course and examination fees from us, they are not giving us books, which is unfair,” said S Dhamodaran, another student. Even though the admission season of IDE for the academic year 2024-25 began in July, students are yet to receive their books.

“Usually, students are given books for the first year at the time of admission. However, I am yet to receive my books. Every time I check with the officials, they say that I will receive the books within a week,” said K Shantipriya, a student who enrolled this year. Thousands of students enrolled in IDE have similar tales to tell.

Meanwhile, the varsity officials have attributed the problem to the absence of a vice-chancellor. “The contract of the previous book publisher expired last year but we were not able to call tenders to select a new one as there is no vice-chancellor to give nod to necessary approvals. The convenor committee, constituted to manage affairs of the university, hardly meets so it was difficult to get clearance from them,” said an official of the varsity.

IDE spends over Rs 50 lakh annually to publish the books.

However, Director of IDE S Aravindhan said things have been sorted out and by next week, the students will get the books. “As per the direction of the state government, we floated e-tenders to select the book publishers and the selection process is in its final stages. The syndicate body of the varsity will give the green signal following which we will immediately start the publishing work of the book,” said Aravindhan.