PESHAWAR: Private publishers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have refused to print textbooks for public sector schools until the payment of Rs4 billion dues by the provincial textbook board amid the province’s financial crisis.

The development has prompted the textbook board to extend the bidding date for supplying books from Oct 26 to Nov 7, according to official documents.

The KP Textbook Board had announced tenders on Oct 7 for the procurement of school books for the next academic year 2024-25 seeking applications by Oct 26.

Private publishers didn’t attend the Oct 19 ‘pre-bid’ meeting with board officials causing fears of delay in the provision of books to students in the next academic year slated to begin next April.

Textbook board extends bidding date till next month

“We will print books only if the government clears our Rs4 billion dues from last year as well as releases half of the payments required printing books for next year to the textbook board,” the owner of a printing company told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

He said that last year, publishers printed Rs10 billion books but the government paid them just Rs6 billion and that, too, after repeated requests.

“We [printers] have formally requested the provincial ombudsperson to help us receive Rs4 billion dues,” he said.

The printing company’s owner said that if the government supplied paper for printing books, then publishers would charge it for printing only.

He said that with a long delay in the payment of dues, publishers were struggling to continue with their business and didn’t collect bidding forms despite the expiry of the date for it.

“We don’t have money to deposit two per cent ‘bid security’ required for participating in the textbook supply tender,” he said.

He said that the owners of printing companies had informed the secretary of the textbook board through a joint letter about their inability to participate in the bidding due to their poor financial position.

Official sources told Dawn that a pre-tendering meeting between board officials and prospective bidders was called to sort out “issues” but that didn’t take place due to the refusal of the latter to show up.

They said that if the government didn’t clear Rs4 billion dues of private printing companies on time, it would not be possible for the textbook board to provide books to schoolchildren at the start of the next academic year causing learning loss.

“In case of any further delay in the payment of dues as well as the amount for next year’s printing, then the printing of books will take four to six more months than routine as books are neither sugar nor flour readily on the market,” a board official told Dawn requesting anonymity.

In the current academic year, schoolchildren in some districts of the province received books from the board almost two months after the start of classes in April this year due to a delay in the payment of funds by the government strapped for cash.

Teachers collected books from old students before giving them away to the new students.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2023