The prospects of students receiving textbooks have been dealt another serious blow as the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) has refused to print textbooks at old rates.
The development has once again exposed the incompetence of Punjab’s School Education Department (SED) which has consistently been failing to convince PCTB to resume the printing of textbooks.
Speaking in this regard, President Serving Wing of Publishers, Zia-ur-Rehman, requested the Punjab government to subsidize the paper used in the printing of textbooks, adding that a lot of time of the students has already been wasted.
On the other hand, SED Punjab has claimed that the department is making concerted efforts to get the printing of textbooks restarted, assuring that students of classes 6, 7, and 8 will receive textbooks by the end of July.
More than three million students in Punjab have entered the new academic year without receiving textbooks. They are forced to complete summer vacation homework without textbooks.
Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also taken serious notice of the delay in the printing of the textbooks caused by the incompetence of PCTB. The premier had ordered Education Minister, Rana Tanveer Hussain, to present a detailed report about the reasons behind the delay.
