Information gleaned by Dawn on Monday revealed that the book sellers at Aminpur bazaar, Urdu bazaar (Samanabad) and Saleemi chowk could not provide the required books to the students, who had been facing difficulties in starting their studies.
The survey also revealed that almost 80 per cent books were not available in the market. These include all the books for classes one to five, books of Urdu, English, Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies for class six and science and mathematics books for class seven (which have been changed by the PTBB). The entire syllabi of ninth and 10th classes are also unavailable because of the alleged malpractice of the PTBB officials.
According to some parents, the textbook board was responsible for providing new books to thousands of students before the beginning of the new academic year. However, unavailability of books for almost all the classes had become a headache for them, they added.
Talking to this correspondent, a group of students said change in syllabi of many classes from primary to intermediate level had become a fashion among the policy-makers, who did not realize that this could neither increase our literacy rate nor could it change the age-old teaching culture.
They suggested that the government should introduce technical subjects in the syllabi of classes from seven to 10 at all the private and state-run institutions.
They attributed the late delivery of books in the market to the PTBB officials’ conspiracy, which forced the students to buy books published privately. Owing to poor planning and lack of interest on the part of the responsible authorities, they complained that delay in provision of books had become a routine.
A bookseller at the Aminpur bazaar told this correspondent that a mafia in the PTBB was facilitating the private publishing houses by delaying the supply of the textbooks to the market. Moreover, a majority of students up to 5th were studying at private institutions which had designed their own syllabi, he said.
The bookseller said the owners of private schools had been maintaining monopoly as far as the supply of books to their students was concerned. He added that these books included those published by various private houses in the syllabi of their schools so that the parents could not purchase these from the market. The owners of the private schools had been in the business for some time, he said.
Despite making tall claims, the government has yet to take action against the PTBB officials responsible for the late delivery of books, and the private schools’ owners, who sold books at higher rates.
Interestingly, the PTBB had published for the first time a message from the Punjab chief minister about the government’s educational policies.
The students and their parents have demanded President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the chief minister to take stock of the situation and order timely provision of the textbooks to the market.