ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The government on Friday decided to implement the March 2001 decision of the federal cabinet to deregulate the textbook printing and publishing sector in order to ensure availability of quality books at cheap rates.

However, the decision will not entail abolition of the textbook boards already functioning in different provinces of the country. The decision to this effect was taken during a workshop on the textbook policy presided over by Education Minister Zobaida Jalal.

The meeting was also attended by the four provincial education ministers including Imran Masood from Punjab, Irfanullah Marwat from Sindh, Fazal Haqani from NWFP and the education minister from Baluchistan.

"The education ministry is bound to implement this decision under Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Maintenance of Standards of Education Act 1976," the education minister said.

With the implementation of the decision, the textbooks developed by the private sector publishers would now be available as parallel textbooks produced by the boards.

The minister also announced that all the public and private educational institutions would now be free to opt for any textbook developed by the private sector publishers.

Though the representatives of different textbook boards opposed the idea of deregulation, the provincial ministers supported and assured the federal minister that the decision would be implemented in letter and spirit in all the four provinces to break the monopoly created by certain textbook boards.

During the workshop, Ms Jalal said the private sector was being invited to create competition that would help reduce the prices of the already high but low quality textbooks.

Shortage of textbooks, especially of 9th and 10th class in April-June 2003 in the federal capital also echoed in the meeting. The deregulation policy on printing and publishing of textbooks was a major intervention in this direction to provide multiple choices of books to the students and to bring in a healthy competition in the production of quality textbooks at competitive prices.

She said the multiple textbook scheme was earlier implemented successfully in areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government and now its extension to the entire Pakistan would help the government in achieving the target of quality education.

The minister also informed the workshop that the policy for early childhood education along with the teacher guides had been prepared and was being implemented in pilot schools. First ever in the history of Pakistan, the government was also preparing guidelines for adult literacy and non-formal education.

She said the Punjab Textbook Board, which was established in 1962, and other boards at provincial levels had so far complete proprietary rights for single textbooks in every subject offered in the scheme of studies up to the higher secondary level.

She recalled that the process of textbook development and production by the provincial textbook boards had been a subject of public criticism, particularly the unavailability of textbooks.

"There has always been a big question mark, as to why should the children of public schools be deprived of high quality textbooks and be bound to use single textbook published by one publisher only," she said.