“We used to print a 40-page book for Rs30-Rs40. Now, private publishers are printing books running into 120 to 130 pages. This also affects the prices,” says PTB Chairman.
Parents say since PTB books are not available and they are being forced to buy expensive books printed by private publishers since some teachers have started fining the children for not brining the books.
Muhammad Riaz, father of a fifth grade student, said that he had purchased the 2012 editions for his son, but now his teachers have been telling him to buy the 2013 editions, most of which he said, were not available in the market.
Qasim Bhatti, another parent, complained that every year the Punjab Textbook Board delayed publication of one or two books. But this year, he said, most books were not available. He said he had been looking for science books for class 5, the geography book for class 7 and the mathematics book for class 10, but could not find them in any of the bookshops in the city.
Mohiuddin, who owns a bookstore on Katchery Road, said most books were available. Since PTB books came with a subsidy, he said, the parents did not want to buy books by private publishers.
PTB Chairman Shahid Mehmood Bhutta said that the board had provided 87 per cent of the books. He said that the National Curriculum Wing was established by the federal government in 2006 to replace 27 textbooks by 2007-08.
“They finished the books in February this year. We have started their publication. It is a lengthy and difficult task and might take some time.”
He said the PTC had set up a sale depot at the Urdu Bazaar in Lahore.
“I have been personally reviewing the situation,” he said.
Bhutta said it was the Punjab government’s policy to publish books in the private sector.
“We used to print a 40-page book for Rs30-Rs40. Now, private publishers are printing books running into 120 to 130 pages. This also affects the prices.”
Parents and students in Faisalabad are apparently facing similar problems.
Noor Muhammad, a teacher at the Government Higher Secondary School, Thikriwala, told The Express Tribune that the government had provided them textbooks, but there were not enough of them to be distributed among all students.
He said the school had now asked the Education Department for more books.
Muhammad Hasan, a 7th grade student at the Government High School, Saddar, said that only 10 of the 45 students in his class had new books.
Most teachers at the Government High School Chak 69-JB, Chabba, said they were teaching without the books. They said as many as six students were sharing a book. Bookseller Muhammad Arshad said that textbooks for grade 3, 6, 7, 8 and 10 were in short supply. He said some booksellers were black-marketing these.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2013.
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