“We have allowed the JEMC to buy more paper rolls,” Shankar Pandey, the MoE secretary, told Republica on Saturday. “Depending on its financial capacity and availability of papers in local markets, the JEMC can buy 2,500 metric tons of paper rolls in various installments. As the JEMC is capable of printing 125,000 textbooks every day, we can expect that the current crisis will be solved in a few days.” [break]
According to the MoE officials, there is a shortage of around 1.2 million textbooks this academic session. The JEMC has publicly stated that the current textbook crisis was largely triggered by the MoE´s decision to scarp a new tender process for buying more papers. The MoE secretary Pandey, however, has dismissed JEMC´s allegations.
“The tender process was never scrapped (as stated by the JEMC). We decided to shelve it for just a few days following complaints of irregularities,” he said. “As our internal probe did not find any serious irregularities, we gave a nod.” According to him, the MoE has set some alternative plans in motion to tide over the current textbooks crisis.
Retrieving old books
As one of its alternative plans, the MoE has asked all public schools to retrieve textbooks already used by students paying them second-hand prices. “Schools can pay 25 per cent of original prices for old books,” Janardan Nepal, spokesperson for MoE, said. “This is one of the various alternative plans to tackle the crisis.”
Similarly, according to Nepal, those districts that have seriously faced the crisis can buy surplus textbooks from other districts. “The crisis is not to the same degree across the country,” Nepal said, adding, “In some districts, there are more-than-necessary textbooks. We can divert these surplus textbooks to badly affected districts.”
The MoE has formed a committee headed by Jay Ram Giri, former education secretary, to find out immediate and long-term solutions to the recurring textbooks crisis. “The committee has been asked to pinpoint the cause of the crisis,” Pandey said. The committee has representatives of teachers´ and guardians´ associations as its members.
Minister flays JEMC
Meanwhile, organizing a press meet on Saturday, Education Minister Ganga Lal Tuladhar lashed out at the JEMC management, particularly Managing Director Ram Chandra Silwal, for “creating an artificial shortage of textbooks”. “As the head of the MoE, I am ready to take moral responsibility of the current crisis,” Tuladhar said, adding, “However, I am not responsible for the textbooks crunch.”
Tuladhar said he had foreseen the looming textbooks crisis shortly after assuming the post of education minister. “I enquired about the present status of textbooks with him (MD Silwal),” Tuladhar said. “He assured me that students would not face the crunch this year. Later, I learnt that the data he gave me was false. I was simply fooled.”
According to Tuladhar, the executive committee of JEMC, headed by education secretary Pandey, had authorized Silwal to buy 650 metric tons of paper rolls after the government´s decision to provide free-of-cost textbooks up to grade 10 increased the overall demand.
“However, Silwal opened Letter of Credence (LC) for buying just 200 metric tons of paper,” Tuladhar said. “When students were really hit by the crisis, he went on to accuse me of not letting him buy paper rolls for printing sufficient textbooks. In fact, he wanted to create an artificial shortage to fulfill his ulterior motives.”
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