PESHAWAR: As a result of the financial crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there is a fear that the matter of printing textbooks will go unchecked and it will not be possible to provide books to the students of the government schools of the province in time.
The publishers who printed the textbooks during the last academic year have been demanded to pay the arrears of Rs. 2.5 billion.
The publishers have stopped the printing of textbooks for the next academic year 2024-25, an official of the Text Book Board told APP on the condition of not being named.
He said as a result of stopping the printing, it will not be possible to provide books to the students of the government schools of the province in time.
He disclosed that the finance department has been contacted several times for the provision of funds but the Finance Department’s insistence to leave the issue of release of funds to the next government.
The caretaker government has decided to give free books to the government schools of the province during the next academic year 2024-25, the official added.
He said Punjab and KP Publishers were awarded contracts for printing of new books and also signed an agreement with them but due to no payment of arrears of more than Rs. Billion they stop working on the printing of Textbooks.
Textbook Board is bound to pay 50% to the respective publishers under CAPRA rules, 50% on completion of work and 50% on printing of complete books, he added.
The printing of the books has to be completed by March 20, while April 20 is the deadline for giving the books to the districts for distribution, the official said. He said that free books will be provided to children in April but so far no possibility of distributing the textbooks to government schools in time.