Financial constraints have forced the caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to reduce the size of textbooks. Furthermore, 50% of the schoolchildren will be given used course books.
The caretaker government aims to save more than Rs. 3 billion with the move. Officials told a national daily that the decision was made in the last meeting of the provincial cabinet.
Additionally, they blamed the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for the crisis, stating that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board wasn’t provided with the required funds to publish the books during the last three years.
Printing books for the academic year 2023-24 was estimated to cost more than PKR 8 billion. However, following the cabinet’s recent decision, the cost is expected to drop to PKR 5.247 billion.
As per the official documents, half of grade 6-12 students would be given previously used books, saving the government PKR 1.8 billion. Meanwhile, students in grades 4-5 will utilize 20% of the existing books, saving the government Rs. 334 million. Moreover, the government plans to save PKR 1.11 billion by reducing the size of course books from nursery to grade 12.
Education department officials have asserted that the decision to reduce the books’ size violates the established standards of the Single National Curriculum.
Textbook board officials told the media outlet that books for the academic year 2022-23 were printed for Rs. 10 billion by private companies. However, the provincial government made payments to them bit by bit.
They added that the finance department is yet to clear the dues of publishers, amounting to Rs. 2 billion. According to the textbook board officials, the delay in releasing funds has resulted in a lack of interest from printers in the textbook printing bidding for the next academic year, scheduled to commence in April 2024.
The officials explained that the textbook board issued a tender for book printing in October of the previous year. However, no printers submitted proposals, as they were apprehensive about the cash-strapped KP government’s capability to pay them for the printed books.
Despite extending the tender date multiple times, printers showed no interest. Officials have expressed concerns about the timely delivery of books, causing a potential two-month learning loss for schoolchildren in the upcoming academic year.