Almost half of the ongoing academic year is set to go waste for thousands of students because of the failure of the Punjab School Education Department to complete the distribution of free textbooks.
The academic year began about four months back and now the schools are closed for two and a half months long summer holidays.
According to sources, the affected students include a large number of those studying in Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) schools that are facing a shortage of around 40,000 textbooks in the province.
The Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board was responsible for free distribution of the textbooks after their publication. However, a large number of students did not receive the books before the vacations began.
The source said such a prolonged delay had happened for the first time in the province.
They said the board had been assigned the task of printing around 80 million textbooks for the ongoing school year. However, it could not deliver the books by the scheduled date of March 31 because their printing had not been completed.
Thus, while students of private schools are engaged in homework and summer camps, thousands of pupils of government institutions are wasting their time due to the non-availability of the books.
An official of the Punjab Textbook Board explained while speaking to The Express Tribune that there had been several problems, including increase in paper cost and delay in payment to the publishers.
