Non-provision of textbooks delays academic session

PESHAWAR: The new academic session could not start in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the delay in supply of textbooks to the educational institutions across the province which has caused concern among students and their parents.

The education department normally supplies ‘free textbooks’ to all the educational institutions through their respective directorates and district offices well before March so that their timely distribution could be completed and the academic year could be commenced on April 1 every year.

However, the academic sessions have been facing persistent delays for the past several years. First, the academic activities were badly hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that normalcy has returned, the delay in publication and distribution of books has suspended academic activities.

In order to get some breathing space, the education department cleverly announced spring vacation from April 1 to April 8, which has now been extended to April 15 on account of Eidul Fitr. Still the department has been unable to supply books to the schools and thus the commencement of academic activities may face more delays as it is not so easy to supply and distribute books among millions of students.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board authorities have claimed that they would hand over the books to the education department at a simple ceremony shortly after Eid, which would distribute them onwards among the educational institutions and the students.

This year the recollection of old books by the schools’ management for redistribution among students caused confusion and unrest among students and their parents.

The previous caretaker government had come up with a plan to utilize the old books and curtail the huge expenses on the publication of free textbooks. Under the plan, the books would have to be recollected from students to be redistributed.

According to the plan, 100 percent new books would have to be provided to students from grade 1 to grade 3, old books would have to be given to 20 students from grade 3 to five and similarly 50 percent old and 50 percent new books would be provided to the students from grade 10 to 12.

As per the decision, school managements had been asked to recollect old books from students by March 27 so that their redistribution could be ensured before the commencement of the new academic year. A notification to this effect triggered rumours on social media that the government has dropped providing free books to students.

The decision of recollection and redistribution of old books also seems a bizarre idea as school students cannot often keep their books in perfect condition. Even if the condition of their books is good, it would cause psychological issues among the students who are provided old books. The official at the textbook board also termed the idea as impractical, but said they were bound to do whatever the government directed them to do.

Provision of free textbooks to students has been a challenging task for the successive governments since the project was launched by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in the province during their rule from 2002 to 2007.

A top official in the textbook board said that they have to publish over 50 million books each year at a cost of Rs8 billion. Financial irregularities and anomalies in award of tenders for publication of the books also make the process unsmooth, he added.

This year due to the government’s announcement to reuse the old books, the textbook board published 40 percent less books than the previous year. This year 33.6 million books have been published. The books have been published and these would be distributed among the students after Eid, the official said.

Owing to the huge cost and alleged irregularities in the process, the government has been considering various options to address the issue appropriately. A former chairman of the textbook board told The News that there was a dearth of major publication houses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to which most of the books were published in Lahore.

Owing to the huge cost, they had once decided to get the books published in China but they could not implement the idea for a host of reasons. It is not any easy thing. The issuance of tenders, selection of books and all other processes related to the publication of books are big challenges, he said. The official said that the release of funds by the government was a big problem due to which the publication of books was delayed.