QUETTA, Dec 19: Provincial Education Minister Abdul Wahid Siddiqui has abolished the tender policy for publication of textbooks in the province.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister said: “The tender policy was the main cause of corruption in the education department.”

He said that in future tender for publishing textbooks would only be given to those publishers who belong to Balochistan in accordance with the fixed official rates.

The minister claimed that the new tender policy would save about Rs20 million and it would also reduce the price of books by 12 per cent. “We would approach the federal government for removal of duty on paper to ensure further reduction in book prices in the province,” he said.

He said that every possible step would be taken to bring improvement in all sectors of education. “Besides increasing literacy rate in the province, we also aim at improving education standard,” he added.

He said that strict measures would be taken against people involved in corruption.

Replying to question about class-based education system, the minister said that steps would be taken to improve standard of education in public schools. Attendance of teachers at these schools would also be ensured, he said.

Replying to a question, he said that in Balochistan 23 publishers were registered with the government while the government spent around Rs60 million on the publication of textbooks annually.

He said efforts would be made to bring improvement in the education department and Balochistan would be brought at par with other provinces in the field of education.