The Punjab government seems to have failed to address the shortage of textbooks of the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) as the text books of various subjects are still unavailable to students of private and government schools despite the start of new academic session.
The new academic year started from April 1 but many textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board are still not available in the market, causing immense problems for the students of government and private schools.
Parents have urged the authorities concerned to ensure the availability of textbooks in the market, so that children could start their studies without wasting time.
According to a survey conducted in this regard, many textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board including the mathematics books for class 3, 7 and 8, science book for class 7, and chemistry, physics and biology books for class 10 are short in the market, whereas parents and students are trying their level best to find these unavailable books, as teachers are forcing the students to bring books at the earliest.
Altaf said that his son is studying in class 10 in a government school and has searched for the science books in almost all the Rawalpindi markets.
He said his son is extremely worried, as his teachers have ordered all the students to bring books as soon as possible. He urged the authorities to ensure the availability of textbooks in the market and also requested the schoolteachers to at least understand the issue of unavailability of books and not force the children to bring them.
Another father said that the new academic year has started with the shortage of textbooks in the market. He said he has been searching for the class 8 mathematics’ book for the past week, but the book is still not available.
Booksellers in Urdu Bazaar and Saddar said that the parents’ complaints about the non-availability of books is correct, adding that they were informed in March that the books would be provided to them in a few days but they are still waiting for their arrival. A spokesperson of Punjab Textbook Board said only the textbooks for class 5 were not available in the market a few days back but that their availability in the market has been ensured. He also claimed that the textbooks of class 3, 7, 8 and 10 are available in the market, as these books were released in time.
