August 02, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 29, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 1: Despite tall claims made by the Sindh Textbook Board, as many as 43 books of various subjects used in different classes are not available in the market, creating difficulties for students as the academic year in the province began on Friday after the summer vacations.

Surprisingly, these textbooks are not even available at the two stalls established by the Sindh Textbook Board in Urdu Bazaar.

When contacted the chairman of the STB, Ali Asghar Bhutto, claimed that there was no shortage of books in the market.

However, facts gathered during a visit to various bookstores in the city contradicted the claim of the STB chief.

Following books were reported to be unavailable in the market:

Mathematics, Urdu and Physics of Class X; Biology (both English and Urdu medium), Pakistan Studies (English medium), Sindhi for Class IX; Urdu, Science (English medium), Mathematics (English and Urdu medium) for Class VIII; Urdu, Islamiat, Science (English medium), English, Social Studies (English and Urdu medium), Science (Urdu medium) for Class VII; Mathematics for Class VI; Science (English and Urdu medium), Urdu, Social Studies (English and Urdu medium), Mathematics (Urdu medium) for Class V; Science (English and Urdu medium), Mathematics (Urdu medium) for Class IV; Social Studies (English medium), Mathematics (Urdu medium) for Class III.

Besides, students of first year (Class XI) are still searching for the following books:

Biology (English and Urdu medium), Mathematics, English (three books), Urdu, Pakistan Studies (English medium), Chemistry (English and Urdu medium) and Physics (Urdu medium).

Some booksellers claimed that books of Home Economics for sixth, seventh and eighth grades had not been seen for the last 10 years.

Interestingly, the STB chairman claimed it was the first time in the history of the STB that two bookstalls in Karachi and Hyderabad each and one in Sukkur had been established to facilitate students.

He said that the textbook board had released all copies of books to the respective sellers but publishers would release the editions according to the market’s demand.

Mr Bhutto said that all the publishers had been asked to ensure availability of all books in the market by August 4. In case of non-compliance, publishers would be penalized and their contracts would be cancelled, he added.The secretary of the provincial education department, Rizwan Memon, said that the government had completed free distribution of textbooks of Class I to X across the province. He said that all the books had been despatched to the respective schools and would be distributed among students by August 4.

When asked about the shortage of textbooks in the market, he said that the relevant authorities would chalk out a strategy to overcome the problem in a meeting scheduled for August 4.—PPI