KARACHI: STB revises schedule for delivery of textbooks
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Aug 16: The Sindh Textbook Board has once again revised its schedule for delivery of textbooks to primary and secondary school students and now the same will be available in full range likely by August 26.
Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, STB Chairman Prof Abdul Aziz Mehranvi said that the board had not been able to bring books in time for primary and secondary classes of private schools due to rains and recent unprecedented power crisis in Karachi.
He said that the schedule for marketing the books had been slightly changed now and expressed hope that the books would start coming in markets from Aug 23 while the entire range of books for students of Classes I to X would be made available in market by Aug 26.
About supply of free distribution textbooks to district and taluka education officials, he said that the board had already handed over 20 million books for 3.4 million students of government primary schools. “Books are lying at Taluka warehouse for delivery to school headmasters,” he added, saying that a number of primary school heads who were available during summer vacations had already been provided with books for onwards delivery to students after summer vacations.
He further said that the books for classes VI to VIII would be given to officials concerned in complete range from Aug 21, while books for matric classes would be available for free distribution from Aug 28. The supply of free distribution textbooks (Class VI to X), which numbered around 10 million, to focal persons concerned was likely to be completed by Sept 15, he added.
Justifying the delay in publication of books both for free distribution and market supply, Prof Mehranvi said that a majority of STB publishers operated in Karachi, whose production activities were affected due to power shortage and monsoon rains. The problem also aggravated as the binders who were working beyond their capacity failed to give the form of books to printed sheets in time.
It was further learnt that only a couple of towns were able to hand over free textbooks to school heads on Wednesday. Some of the towns are considering to hold ceremonies to hand over the books to students by respective town and union council nazims, said a staffer of the city government’s education department.
On Wednesday, schools and colleges in the city resumed their academic activities after a six-week summer vacation. The attendance remained thin on the first day.
Referring to low attendance at the educational institutions, an education department official said that this was nothing unusual. Attendance would start improving within a couple of weeks, added the official stating that many government and private schools were still involved in the process of admission.
Besides, the first year classes at colleges are yet to be filled by fresh matriculates. “We are also in the process of finalising second year admission and any real tempo for teaching could be seen in 10 days or so,” said a college teacher.
In the meantime, students and parents in Karachi and in some other parts of the province remained in search of textbooks without a success. They blamed the Sindh Textbook Board and its controlling authority for slackness, saying that it was nothing new but an annual exercise. It was unfortunate to note that the whole machinery concerned of the government failed to perform up to mark again, said parents of a student.
KARACHI, Aug 16: The Sindh Textbook Board has once again revised its schedule for delivery of textbooks to primary and secondary school students and now the same will be available in full range likely by August 26.
