ISLAMABAD: Representatives of private school network along with scores of students staged a protest against National Book Foundation (NBF) for its failure to provide textbooks to the students on time.

The students gathered outside the the Pak-China Friendship Centre where the three-day book festival was launched on Friday.

The event has been organised by the NBF and the National History and Literary Heritage Division to promote reading culture in the country.

NBF is organising a three-day book festival

The students of public and private schools are facing a shortage of textbooks. On Monday, Minister of State for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, directed the NBF to ensure the supply of textbooks to the public sector schools by April 30.

“Owing to the negligence of the NBF, thousands of students are sitting in classrooms without books. But the organisation is holding a book festival here,” said Afzal Babar, the president of the private school network. He said hardly 20pc books were available in the markets. “The books should have been published and reached the market by March 31,” he added.

“We are not against the book festival but protest against the shortage of textbooks in the markets. A book reading culture cannot be improved without providing textbooks to the students,” said Raja Khalid, a schoolteacher. The protesters said every year the students of private schools appeared in class fifth and class eight centerilised examination of the FDE.

“Our students have to compete with the students of FDE-run schools but how they can perform well without getting books on time,” said the teacher. The protesters said currently only social studies of the 5th class and some other books were available in the markets.

Speaking to Dawn, Deputy Director NBF Majeebur Rehman said private schools operators were supposed to place their demand through the private school regulatory body well on time. “They didn’t furnish their demand and now they just try to sabotage our event by staging a protest.” He said after completing the order placed by the FDE, the NBF published textbooks for the open market from where the students of private schools purchase.

The protesters dispersed before the arrival of President Mamnoon Hussain at the venue. The president also visited different bookstalls.

Speaking on the occasion, the president said in order to put the country on the path of progress and prosperity, it was imperative that people should pay attention to national issues.

He said only those nations excelled in the world who maintained a close relation with research, education and book. “Muslims have a very deep and natural connection with books, the basis of which is the holy Quran,” he said, adding it was their relation with the holy Quran due to which the Muslims rendered commendable services in the field of knowledge. But when this relationship weakened, they got embroiled in problems.

He said: “We have to strengthen our relation with knowledge and wisdom to change the fate of the country and its citizens.”

The president said it was the responsibility of the learned to lay the basis of progress and prosperity by making the literary heritage compatible with the requirements of the modern age. He said our literary heritage should be transferred on the internet in order to make it accessible to the new generation and the world.

The president directed to replace the name of National Book Foundation with ‘Qaumi Kitab Ghar’ and said new books should be written to transmit our literary heritage to the new generation and literary work being done around the world should also be transferred to Pakistan.

Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui, Managing Director NBF Dr Inamul Haq Javed and others also addressed the event.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2016