Students to receive free textbooks in February

Sindh Text Book Board will continue exercise till end of March

KARACHI: The Sindh Text Book Board (STBB) will start distributing free textbooks among students of class one to 10 from the second week of February, said Education Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar.

The exercise will continue till the end of March, he added. He was presiding over a meeting with STBB chairperson Syed Zakir Hussain Shah in his office on Tuesday. Overall, 29 million textbooks will be distributed free of charge among students of public schools.



The minister directed Shah to complete the supply of free textbooks to schools before the commencement of the new session of 2017-2018, so that the students do not have to face any kind of hindrance in their studies.



"Rs1.6 billion will be spent on printing, supply and transportation of free textbooks to schools," he said, adding that all the rules will be followed and no negligence will be tolerated. Dahar also said that the government was spending almost Rs25,000 to Rs28,000 on every student studying in any government school. "It is unfortunate that we were unable to achieve our targets," he said.



The education minister was of the opinion that according to data available, the government sector was spending much more money on each student as compared to renowned private educational institutions.

"It was the result of the unwillingness of teachers and officers concerned," he pointed out, asking the STBB chairperson to always go for open tenders for publishing and supply of free textbooks in order to avoid any misconception and to bring a good name to the department.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2017.