Punjab Textbook fiasco

AS the Punjab government distributes some 125,000 commissioned laptops among qualified students, and another 300,000 are said to be in the pipelines, students in the province face a shortage of textbooks, the provision of which has reportedly hit many snags. While the government is at pains to explain that the laptops’ distribution is a trans-parent affair, no such explanation is offered regarding the commissioning, printing and distribution of the more basic provision of textbooks. The result is that hundreds of thousands of students fear having to go through the academic year without the prescribed books. The Punjab Textbook Board reportedly awarded the printing contracts to a number of publishers in a deal that many allege is questionable citing the lack of capacity of the publishers concerned. Also, there reportedly is confusion as to the currency of the syllabi at various levels over which the chief minister is said to have fired the head of the textbook board; however, the real concern, the non-availability of textbooks, seems to have not got the attention it deserves.

The fiasco leads one to question the priorities of the Punjab government. What should come first, it must be asked, the provision of textbooks or the laptops? It is true that computer literacy centres have been set up in a large number of public schools across Punjab, but the drive to further IT education should not come at the cost of neglecting the provision of basic education of which textbooks are an indispensable tool. The shortage of books in the market has thrown open a number of questions. For instance, a report in this newspaper on Monday expressed pessimism about the ability and the intention of private-sector publishers given the contracts to print the books. The deal does not seem to be very transparent as many publishers are said to be reluctant to print the number of copies assigned to them in order to bag more profit. Consequently, the shortage remains at many levels. While this calls for an investigation into the said deal, urgent efforts must be made to make the prescribed books available to students.