The cash-strapped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration has planned to lower textbook size and offer half of the kid’s old course books in the hope of saving more than Rs3 billion on publishing costs.
According to authorities, the decision was taken at the most recent cabinet meeting.
They stated that owing to budgetary limitations, the provincial government did not disburse the funding necessary by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board to print course books for the previous three years.
According to authorities, the government distributed free books to kids at its schools.
According to them, the printing of books in the upcoming academic year 2023-24 will cost Rs8.528 billion, but the amount will be reduced to Rs5.247 billion by reducing the size of textbooks and providing 50% of schoolchildren with books collected from students after their promotion to the next grade.
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The decision is expected to save more than Rs3 billion in book publishing costs.
According to the official paperwork, the 6-12 graders would use 50% of the old books collected by schools from kids promoted to the next grade.
According to the papers, only books in good condition would be handed to pupils, saving the government Rs1.8 billion.
Students in grades 4-5 will reuse 20% of their old textbooks, saving the government Rs334 million.
Officials said that, in addition to decreasing textbook size, the government has chosen to cut the size of nursery-grade 12-course books, saving the government Rs1.11 billion.
According to education department sources, the administration’s move breached the standard textbook size set by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Single National Curriculum.
They claimed, however, that the decision to reduce textbooks and distribute outdated volumes to students was made “under compulsion” since the financial department failed to provide funding for producing textbooks to the board on time.
According to textbook board officials, private businesses printed books for the academic year 2022-23 for Rs10 billion, but the provincial government paid them in installments.
They claimed that, even though the board had begun bidding for book printing for the following year; the finance department had not paid publishers in full for the work done the previous year.
According to sources, the finance department has so far disbursed Rs8 billion of the Rs10 billion cost of publishing books last year.
According to authorities, the delay in the transfer of cash had disenchanted printers, who were no longer interested in the textbook printing bidding for the following academic year, which is set to begin in April 2024.
They said that the textbook issued a tender for book production in October of last year, but no printers responded, fearing that the cash-strapped KP government would not be able to pay them.
The officials claimed that they had repeatedly extended the tender deadline but in vain.
They stated that they floated the tender for the second time, with the opening date set for December 13, but no printers showed up, forcing the textbook board to extend the opening date to December 20. They stated that the bidding procedure was now underway.
According to sources, pupils will lose two months of studying time in the coming academic year since the publishers will be unable to deliver orders by the end of May.
