PESHAWAR, Dec 31: The provincial elementary and secondary education (E&SE) department has expressed displeasure over supply of ‘substandard’ goods to government schools in Malakand division and asked United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to replace them with those of good quality without delay.

The Unicef had sent the ‘relief goods’, including teaching kits, student bags, stationery, blackboards, plastic mats and sports kits, for distribution to students of the schools in the division, especially in its militancy-hit areas, under an agreement with the provincial government, according to an official source.

“Of late, minister (for E&SE) Sardar Hussain Babak directed the bosses of the education department to issue a letter of displeasure to Unicef for supplying substandard items to schools,” the source told Dawn on Saturday.

The source said the officials in the department learned about the poor quality of the goods after many schools had got them, while their supply to the rest was underway.

The source said in line with the minister’s directives, the department conveyed to Unicef its displeasure over the substandard goods’ provision and asked it immediately stop their further supply and replace the ones already sent to schools.

When contacted, secretary E&SE Mushtaq Jadoon confirmed the supply of substandard goods to Malakand schools and said he had taken up the matter with Unicef and asked the relevant officials to match the dispatched items with the specimen shown by contractors at the time of securing the contract.

“In fact, it was a grant of the Saudi Development Fund that was utilised through Unicef,” he said, adding that the first consignment of the pledged goods had already reached many schools in Malakand division.

Communication specialist of Unicef in Islamabad A Sami Malik said the organisation received some complaints about the quality of different items dispatched to schools in the insurgency-hit Malakand division. He said the goods sent were not imported and were purchased from the local market.

“For the purchase of these items, we followed the competitive bidding process. A tender was floated in the national press, while the contract for supplying the said goods was awarded to the lowest bidder after fulfillment of the prescribed criteria,” he said. He further said: “It is in the knowledge of Unicef bosses that something wrong has been committed during the supply,” he said.

Mr Malik said Unicef had already ordered an inquiry into the matter and would ensure by all means that the items to be supplied to schools was of good quality.