PESHAWAR, July 29: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has assured the printing industry of all possible assistance for its rapid growth.

Talking to a delegation of the Textbooks Printers Association on Monday, the governor said that making the printing of textbooks compulsory within the province was a decision of the present government taken to boost the local industry.

In future, he remarked, the government would only identify the curriculum; whereas printing would be carried out by the private publishers and printers and the selection of respective books would be at the discretion of the educational institutions.

Thus, he said, the students would be in a position to benefit from the books of their choice.

The governor said that instead of involving itself in commercial activities, the government would prefer to get the job done through the private sector, which had the capacity, efficiency, and spirit to fulfil the requirement with responsibility.

He assured the delegation that the government would not only give chance to the private printers to carry out their activities but would also make every effort to remove their difficulties.

Referring to the financial difficulties of the printers, especially about the purchase of printing papers, the governor said that efforts would be made to facilitate them through banks.