LARKANA, June 30: The Sindh Text Book Board has yet not provided books for free distribution among girl students of class VI to VIII in the province. This was confirmed by the acting EDO, education, Sikandar Lakhir, here on Wednesday.

The EDO said demands in this regard had been submitted to the government in March. Sources said the foreign-funded Decentralized Elementary Education Project (DEEP), which provided funds for free distribution of textbooks, had delayed the process of book distribution.

They said a meeting of the textbook board held on June 17 in Jamshoro was told that the DEEP had delayed payment to the board which in turn had to delay printing of textbooks.

The district education department has made a demand of 119,66 sets of textbooks for distribution among the students. The sources said the books were to be provided before the start of the academic year in April. It was now expected that the books would be provided in August when summer vacations would be over in the province.

Textbooks for distribution among primary students, which were also to be provided before the beginning of the academic year, were received in the end of June. The sources said the delay had deprived majority of the students of free books as they had already purchased the books.

But the EDO said only a small number of students might have purchased the books as the same were short in market. He said arrangements were being made to ensure early supply of books to schools for distribution among students after the end of the summer vacations.

The district's demand for primary textbooks was 216,072 sets but the textbook board provided 212,849 sets. The sources said the district government spent more than Rs20 million on the project of free book distribution.