KARACHI, May 5: The delay in free supply of textbooks to students of government primary schools in the province was due to negligence and action would be taken against those responsible for the failure , said Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad on Wednesday.

Talking to newsmen after the convocation at Jinnah University for Women, Dr Ishratul Ibad said that the government felt that precious time of students had been wasted as some of the persons did not care to ensure supply of textbooks before the commencement of the new academic session.

To a question he confirmed that a high level enquiry had already been initiated by the Sindh, chief secretary on the non-availability of books and action would be taken in the light of probe findings, which would also be made public. He informed that textbooks would be available to students in two weeks time.

He said that at present no proposal or plan was under consideration by the government to bring the Sindh Textbook Board or Sindh Board of Technical Education under the control of Sindh Governor. Similarly, he expressed his ignorance about any move to hand over the educational boards, which were under his control, to Sindh Education department.

When his attention was drawn towards the resentment shown from time to time over the appointment of retired government officials to key posts at educational boards, Mr Ibad said that some of them had been working before he took over as Sindh Governor and for the time being he did not want to disturb those tenured officials.

However, he maintained that while selecting people, whether they were in-service or retired, he kept in mind the fact that they were qualified and would be able to sustain pressure while dispensing their duties in higher posts at educational boards.

Replying to a question related to prevailing unrest among the students of Dawood College of Engineering and Technology due to absence of college's accreditation with Pakistan Engineering Council, the Governor said that federal government had initiated efforts to rectify the situation.