ISLAMABAD: Free textbooks will be provided to all class I students in Government and nationalised schools throughout the country from the next academic session. This was decided here today [March 5] in a meeting of Education Ministers held under the chairmanship of Federal Education Minister, Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada. The decision has been taken in pursuance of the new education policy which stipulates that textbooks and writing materials will be supplied free of cost to children in primary schools in a phased programme, and it will come into effect from the next month, when the new academic session starts.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Cairo,] Egypt and the Soviet Union consider the just completed Egyptian-Israeli troop disengagement as only a first step towards a complete settlement of the Middle East conflict, a joint communique said today [March 5]. The communique, issued at the end of a five-day visit to Egypt by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, said the two sides stressed on stepped up efforts towards “a … settlement based on United Nations resolutions which call for a complete Israel withdrawal from occupied Arab lands”. … The Egyptian side … “accepted with appreciation” the Soviet preparedness … to help in reconstruction work involving the Suez Canal.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2024