PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday temporarily stopped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board (KPTBB) from executing profit-sharing contracts with eight private publishers for publishing of textbooks for grade 9 to 12.

A bench consisting of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Sabitullah Khan issued notices to the respondents including the KPTBB chairman, secretary of elementary and secondary education and National Curriculum Council (NCC), seeking their response to a plea of three private publishers challenging the board’s decision to execute contracts with eight other printers and publishers without fulfilling formalities under the relevant policy.

The bench fixed March 6 for next hearing of a joint petition filed by MN Printers and Publishers and two others, who requested the court to declare as illegal the decision taken by KPTBB on Feb 7, 2025, whereby the board had adopted textbooks for grade 9 to 12 provided by NCC and decided to execute profit-sharing contract with eight private publishers, whose list was provided by NCC.

The petitioners requested the court to declare that they had a legitimate right to participate in the textbook development process as per Clause 3.2 of KP Textbook and Learning Material (KPTLM) Policy, 2017.

Court seeks response of govt and board to plea against violation of policy

The petitioner stated that the actions of respondents in adopting textbook from private publishers without advertisement and in complete regard to procedure outlined in Clause 3.2 of KPTLMA Policy were arbitrary and illegal.

They sought directives of the court for the respondents to adhere to the procedure laid down in Clause 3.2 of the policy to ensure transparency, competition and non-discriminatory practice in textbook development process for grade 9 to 12.

The respondents in the petition are secretary of elementary and secondary education department, KPTBB chairman, director of Directorate of Curriculum and Teachers Education (DCTE), secretary of ministry of federal education and professional training (FEFT), NCC and the eight publishers.

Advocate Jahanzeb Mehsud appeared for the petitioners and stated that the ministry of FEPT had forwarded model textbooks for grade 9 to 12 based on National Curriculum of Pakistan 2022-23, which was examined by KPTBB.

He said that the board subsequently approached elementary and secondary education department for guidance under KPTLM Policy, 2017.

The counsel stated that after examining the matter, the education secretary submitted proposals regarding development of textbooks under Clause 3.2 by inviting private publishers to develop textbooks, which would go through the entire review process and after obtaining no-objection certificate from DCTE, final selection would be carried out by the provincial committee of elementary and secondary education; and adoption of textbooks under Clause 3.2-A of KPTLM Policy 2017.

Mr Mehsud said that the matter was placed before the provincial cabinet, which approved the adoption of model textbooks for grade 9 to 12 offered by NCC and their adoption under Clause 3.2-A of KPTLM Policy 2017, subject to necessary review by the DCTE.

Surprisingly, he stated that a meeting was conducted on Feb 7, 2025, wherein KPTBB decided to execute an agreement between the board and certain publishers outlining the terms and conditions of the review, payment structures and responsibilities.

He argued that the act of KPTBB was illegal, being violative of the cabinet approval and contrary to Clause 3.2-A, which didn’t contain any condition for the execution of a profit-sharing agreement with publishers.

The counsel pointed out that on Feb 1, 2024, a letter was sent by NCC director to the provincial government, wherein she appreciated the development of model textbooks for grade 9 to 12 based on national curriculum of Pakistan 2022/23 and it was conveyed that hardcopy of the model textbooks for grade 9 to 12 would be handed over to provincial government representative for its review under their respective rules and policy and at the same time soft copies would also be provided.

However, Mr Mehsud stated that quite surprisingly it was also conveyed that the ownership right of the model textbooks would be managed as per federal government contract with publishers and contract between FE&PT and provincial government and had also forwarded the list of certain publishers for model textbooks for grade 9 to 12.

He argued that the action was in utter disregard of the constitutional mandate and the policy of the provincial government. He claimed that the governments of Punjab and Azad Kashmir didn’t accede to the said proposals and had properly advertised development of textbooks.

He contended that Clause 3.2-A of the policy didn’t provide for any profit-sharing mechanism, yet the respondents agreed to execute an agreement for profit-sharing with private publishers, thereby violating the policy.

He contended that such an arbitrary deviation from the prescribed policy framework undermined the rights of petitioners and created an unfair monopoly in favour of the eight private publishers.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2025