Thousands await school books

Distribution in govt institutions to be completed six weeks into academic year

LAHORE:

Thousands of the government school students in Punjab have not received their textbooks a fortnight after their new classes began.

The provincial government also took notice of the unavailability of the books but the issue has not been resolved. According to teachers, they are finding it difficult to begin the academic activities without the textbooks.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikander Hayat said 65 per cent of the textbooks delivery at the government schools had been completed, while the remaining books would be delivered by May 15.

The printing of books takes around seven months but this time the tenders had been awarded on February 26 and the work done in record time.

"We are closely monitoring this books delivery process and all students in the province will get the textbooks by May 15,", said Minister Rana Sikander Hayat.

Sources in the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) said the books had been published and it was the responsibility of the school education department to distribute them in the schools.

The Punjab School Education Department has failed to deliver the free textbooks at the government schools on time.

The distribution of books had also been delayed last year by three months. The students are again facing wastage of their time because of the issue.

The new academic session 2024-25 started on April 1 and it was the responsibility of the school education department to deliver the free textbooks before the classes began. But two weeks have passed and thousands of the students are waiting for the books.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif had also taken notice of the issue but it has not been resolved.

The schools have reopened after the Eid holidays.

The government had decided earlier this year that around 40 per cent of the school textbooks would by printed by the board, while the school heads and district education authority chief executive officers were given this responsibility to manage the acquisition of 60% of the books.

Under the plan, book banks were established in all districts in which used books of the senior students were collected.

The collected books had to be distributed among the students but the implementation of the plan has faced complications.

A leader of a teachers union expressed concern about the affect on the delay in the book distribution on the students' education.

"We are trying our best to continue the classes despite the shortage of the books. The teachers collected boos from senior students but the fact is that a large number of them were not in a condition to be used for another year," Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali said.

He said only a few students had been provided the books while a large number of them were waiting for new books.

A senior PCTB official said the board had been instructed to about 36.6 million books this year, which had been printed and handed over to the school education department.

However, an official of the Punjab School Education Department conceded that sufficient books were not available for all the students.

He said all private schools had begun classes but the poor students of government schools were suffering.

The official said the distribution of the books in all districts would take weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2024.