Textbooks printing to be completed in four months: Sikandar

LAHORE: School Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat has said that on the directions of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz the process of printing textbooks would be completed in four months instead of seven months.

He said that the CM had taken notice of the issue of delay in availability of textbooks for schoolchildren and had directed for ensuring the supply of correct textbooks to all the students before the start of the academic session.

The minister further said that 4 review sessions were also held in the last one week and in less than a month, 33pc of the books were printed while 30pc of the distribution was completed. The first phase of delivery of books has been completed on March 31, the second phase will be completed by April 20 and the third phase will be completed by May 20, he added.

Rana Sikandar Hayat added that a total of 200 crore books were to be published. He added that last year the problem surfaced due to the delay in tenders. In this regard, a report has been submitted to the CM.

He said that the tenders were completed before the current government took charge. The process of tenders was completed by February 20, preparation for publication began on January 19, while tenders awarded on January 22 were opened on February 6. Thus, the task of printing was given to the printing press on February 26, the minister said.