The Sindh School Education Department's initiative to establish a "Book Bank" in government schools, aimed at providing old textbooks to new classes, has practically failed. A significant number of students who have graduated from their classes are not returning their textbooks to the schools. Only a limited number of students have returned the books, and those that have been returned are often in poor condition, making them unusable for new students. Some books have torn pages, others have missing pages, and the bindings are damaged, making it difficult for the Book Bank to replace a significant number of new textbooks.
Meanwhile, the Sindh Textbook Board has only recently begun distributing textbooks to government schools, and this process will continue in a second phase after schools reopen on August 15th.
Director of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Arshad Baig, stated that all preparations have been completed on their end. This year, the distribution of free textbooks is being monitored by the relevant Deputy Commissioners. When asked about the number of books collected for the Book Bank, the Director of Secondary Schools said that they do not currently have data on how many books have been collected but will share the data if it has been compiled.
It is worth noting that this project was introduced during the tenure of the previous caretaker government, and a letter was sent on May 9, 2024, by Chief Curriculum Advisor Dr. Fouzia Khan to all Directors of Schools. The letter stated that delays in the publication, printing, and distribution of textbooks for students in Sindh are due to long distances and transportation issues. To address these problems, it was decided to collect books from students in government primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools.
Another letter was issued on July 29th, referencing the earlier May 9th letter, asking the officials to ensure the return of textbooks and the establishment of the Book Bank.
When contacted to understand the situation of the Book Bank and the return of books in schools, a headmistress of a government school and a District Education Officer (DEO) stated that the books returned to the Book Bank are mostly in such poor condition that they are not suitable for further use.
The headmistress mentioned that the Sindh Textbook Board provides students with "Jacket Books" (multiple books bound together), and some of the books within the jacket have torn pages or are missing pages. However, some of the books within the same jacket are in better condition. This presents a challenge for them when distributing new textbooks from the Sindh Textbook Board, as they will have to figure out how to distribute them among students. In the same class, some students will have new books while others will have old ones, making it difficult to convince students to study from old books when new ones are available.
On the other hand, an education officer mentioned that the enrollment numbers shared by school heads for the distribution of textbooks appear to be inflated. The reason for this seems to be that they want to ensure that all students in their schools receive new textbooks.
It is important to note that last year, for the 2023 academic session, only 2.4 million sets of textbooks were printed and delivered to schools, while the official enrollment claims were around 4.2 million or more. This resulted in a shortfall of about 2.1 million textbook sets, leaving many students in Sindh without the required number of books. As a result, timely tendering for the printing of books was necessary, but the tender was issued very late in February/March of this year, causing the academic session, which was supposed to start on April 15th, to be delayed until August 1st.
During this time, disputes among publishers over tendering reached their peak, leading to legal battles and multiple tenders being issued in May and June, further delaying the printing of books. As a result, the academic session was postponed by 14 days, ostensibly due to the weather.
Secretary of the Sindh Textbook Board, Hafizullah, claimed that the distribution of textbooks has already begun in Karachi.
When asked about the Book Bank, he mentioned that they had estimated that around 25% of books would be collected from the Book Bank. However, even if they are not, they have prepared 4.475 million sets of textbooks this time, so there will be no shortage of books. Even if books are not collected in the Book Bank, the textbooks provided by the Sindh Textbook Board will be sufficient.
In a recent meeting held by the School Education Department at the Chief Minister's House, the enrollment in government schools in Sindh was reported to be over 5.2 million. When asked if this would result in a shortage of around 700,000 or more books, the Secretary responded that these enrollment figures are accurate as the government has made efforts to bring out-of-school children into schools. However, if there is a shortage of books, they will print more.
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