KHYBER: The Pakhtun Students Federation has complained about the “discontinuation” of the provision of free textbooks to students in government schools here and demanded of authorities to reverse the move without delay.

In a statement issued in Bara tehsil on Saturday, PSF Khyber president Abdul Wahab Afridi said that the education sector in the tribal district was hit hard by militancy for over a decade.

He said that militant attacks destroyed over 100 schools, much to the misery of thousands of students.

Mr Afridi said that besides the reconstruction of schools, the provision of free textbooks to students was also direly needed.

Teachers insist move to deal blow to cause of education

He said that the majority of the schoolchildren belonged to poor families, which were devastated by displacement for around a decade.

“Suspension of the distribution of free books to the children enrolled in public sector schools will adversely affect students, most of whom can’t afford to buy books from the market,” he said.

The PSF leader said that it was the basic right of every student to have education and textbooks free of charge.

“Denying free books to students is tantamount to denying them their basic rights,” he said.

Mr Afridi demanded that authorities immediately reconsider their decision to suspend the distribution of free textbooks to the relief of poor schoolchildren.

Teachers of some government schools in Bara tehsil confirmed the denial of free textbooks to students and insisted that the move would deal a serious blow to the cause of education in the militancy-hit tribal region.

However, officials in the district’s education department told Dawn that the provision of free textbooks to government schools hadn’t been completely stopped.

They added that the department had reduced the quota of free books for certain grades after receiving complaints about their illegal sale on the market.

The officials claimed that all students in the classes from kindergarten to grade 3 continued to get free books, while the department had introduced a 20 per cent cut in the book quota for those enrolled in grades 4-5.

They also said that the quota for other classes had almost been halved.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2024