Students of the government-run and -aided schools in the city will start their new academic year on April 1 without textbooks – all because of a tangle between the Ministry of Education and the National Book Foundation (NBF).
Legal minds start arguing in the Islamabad High Court on Friday how to clear the mess.
Informed sources said the NBF was supposed to have the books for Class 1 to 10 printed by March 15 but alleged that ill-advised orders from the ministry created a legal mess and stalled the printing process.
They said the NBF posted a tender for the purchase of paper for printing the books on its website, and that of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), on December 22 last year as the All Pakistan Newspapers Society had placed a ban on publishing the advertisements of the Education Ministry because the ministry owed its members over Rs190 million in back payments.
Only two bidders responded to the NBF tender but one of them who had a running dispute with the NBF withdrew from the bidding and lodged a complaint with the then education minister, Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali.
The minister formed a committee which consumed 17 days to inquire into the complaint. The minister ordered re-tendering on the basis of the findings of the inquiry, although the PPRA had meanwhile ruled that a purchase order could be placed even if there was only one bidder.
Pressed for time, the NBF`s paper procurement committee immediately set for re-tendering.
It sought advice of the PPRA on hastening the process of procuring the paper but found that it was not possible to meet all the codal formalities for re-tendering in the short time left.
In desperation, the committee requested the pre-qualified printing presses on the NBF list to arrange the paper themselves and start printing the books. Half of the 50 registered printing presses agreed to use their own paper and print the books at the existing rates.
Surprisingly, while the printing was in progress, the Ministry of Education on February 17 wrote letters to the Director General Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and Chairman Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PIERA) to purchase books directly from the Punjab Textbook Board.
Deputy Secretary Mohammad Ayub Paracha signed the letter with the note that it had been approved by Secretary Education Athar Tahir. Mr Tahir has previously served as Chairman Punjab Textbook Board.
Those printing the books for NBF challenged the directive in the letter in the Islamabad High Court which granted a stay against it on March 4. The case is to be heard today (March 25) but there is no chance of the books reaching the students on time.
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