It may take a month to get full set of textbooks

Kathmandu, May 25: Schools’ students across the country are facing acute shortage of textbooks even a week after the start of the new academic session. 

Schools are having to wait for textbooks as the Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC), the only textbooks printing authority of the government, spent its textbooks printing time by printing ballot papers.

All schools across the country, including in the Kathmandu Valley, have been facing the problem.

Kumari Kamala Rai, headmaster of Janakalyan Secondary, in Chuccepati, Kathmandu, said they have not got any set of textbooks till now. Rai added that the JEMC informed them that the school will get complete textbooks only after one month.

As Janakalyan, Padmodaya Secondary School, in Pradashanimarga and Vishwo Niketan Secondary School, in Tripureshwor also got similar message from the JEMC. 

Narayan Gautam, headmaster of Padmodaya Secondary School, said they are facing trouble in teaching-learning activities but the authorities aren’t serious about children’s education.

Earlier, the JEMC had stated that the ballot paper printing job will not disturb textbook printing as these were getting printed by different printing presses. 

Despite that claim, the JEMC now says that it has yet to print three million textbooks. Till now, it has completed the printing of 15.5 million 

textbooks. 

Chitra Acharya, spokesperson for the JEMC, said they can’t complete textbook printing in time because human resource required were mobilised for ballot paper printing for 20 days prior to the election. 

It will take about a month to print the remaining textbooks. The JEMC can deliver those textbooks within two days across the country after printing, he said.

According to Acharya, the JEMC has completed the printing of all sets textbooks of grade four, grade seven, grade nine, and grade ten till now. Even printed textbooks can’t be made available in schools because concerned stakeholders remained busy until the poll. 

As large numbers of textbooks were received by suppliers from the JEMC on Monday, students may receive those textbooks within few days, Acharya informed.

Acharya attributed the delayed printing to the lack of sufficient paper. 

Though the JEMC wants to take excuse by showing the work of ballot papers printing this time, it could not make available sufficient textbooks at the start of academic session even in previous years. 

Currently, it has been printing only textbooks of above grade four and junior grade textbooks are 

being printed by private publications. 

But, schools are not receiving textbooks even of junior grades, said Heramba Kadel, headmaster of Vishwo Niketan Secondary School.