Punjab

Students of FDE-run schools await textbooks

Official says schools to open today instead of April 1 due to delayed delivery

Our Correspondent April 10, 2023

Students are braving lessons in crumbling classrooms and tents after record floods battered the country. AFP

ISLAMABAD:

The students of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) run institutes in the federal capital have not yet received free compulsory textbooks even though the authorities concerned have announced the opening of schools from Monday (today).

According to sources, the current situation has created hurdles for students to begin their academic activities.

They said the FDE provides free textbooks to the students of all the institutes from Class I-10 every year but this time, it has failed to provide the school books, causing difficulties for the teachers to complete the course in reduced sessions.

Sources said students have been instructed to come to school from Monday although they were supposed to join their classes on April 1.

Rifat Jabeen who looks after the affairs of the distribution of free textbooks at FDE said the institutes do not have books to distribute among the students due to which their academic activities are at risk of suffering.

Moreover, the authorities concerned have not yet given a final date for the delivery of the books, she added.

On the other hand, the annual results of class V have been delayed due to a new experiment. Sources said previously, the directorate itself used to conduct exams of the said class by appointing teachers for the examinations. However, a new experiment was made this year whereby examinations were conducted under area education officers. Even during these examinations, too many complaints were received and now there is a continuous delay in the results, they said.

This is not the first time that the students are being delayed books.

In 2021, a similar situation arose after authorities concerned failed to meet the deadline for the distribution of the books.

At the time, all the eighth graders of schools being run under the FDE were not provided textbooks although the academic session had started after a delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2023.