BOSEM nods to paper without watermarks for textbooks

IMPHAL, Dec 20 : As the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM) prepares to procure papers without watermarks for printing textbooks for the 2026 academic year, concerns have been raised about the possibility of pirated books flooding the market.
It is reported that a meeting of the BOSEM Administrative Committee was held on December 13 to discuss the printing of academic textbooks and answer sheets.
During the meeting, the BOSEM Secretary proposed procuring the first batch of 160 metric tonnes of paper without watermarks for printing textbooks.
After discussing the suggestion, the committee agreed to procure 160 metric tonnes of paper without watermarks, while ensuring that the quality of paper approved by the tender committee for this batch is maintained.
Additionally, it was decided that the remaining 290 metric tonnes would be procured with watermarks.
It was further reported that the tender committee convened its meetings on November 24 and December 3, during which it was proposed that the paper for textbooks be of 70 GSM (DC) and the paper for HSLC examination answer sheets be of 80 GSM (DC).
This proposal was subsequently approved by the Administrative Committee.
Notably, several student organisations and the All Manipur Private Schools Welfare Association had submitted a memorandum to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, urging that the quality of paper used for BOSEM textbooks be made equivalent to that of NCERT textbooks.