RAHIM YAR KHAN, March 31: A large number of primary students in the district could not get textbooks free of cost under the Punjab chief minister's 'Education for All' plan as the new academic year starts on Thursday (today).

According to district education officer (elementary) Mian Abdul Haq, the department had sought 532,041 books for around 425,000 students in the four tehsils of the district. But, only 405,200 books were provided for distribution, he added.

He said according to the demand sent to the Programme Monitoring and Implementation Unit (PMIU), Lahore, 184,227 books were required for Rahim Yar Khan, 130,950 for Sadiqabad, 111,704 for Khanpur and 105,165 for Liaquatpur.

He said 126,841 books were still required. Mr Haq said a PMIU representative visited here recently. He was informed about the shortage of textbooks but he did not promise to provide more books claiming that there were no books in the stock. "As the new session is starting on Thursday, parents are forced to purchase books from markets," he claimed.