Edu dept replaces Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) chairman
Karachi: The slow pace of publishing textbooks for the coming academic year has forced the Sindh Education Department to replace the Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) chairman.
Colleges Regional Director Prof Abdul Salam has taken charge as chairman of the STBB, replacing Asghar Ali Bhutto and a notification has been issued, education department officials said on Friday.
It was also learnt that differences between Bhutto and Sindh Education Secretary Rizwan Memon were also a main reason behind the new appointment.
The differences between the two officials first became evident when Memon cancelled a tender issued by the STBB to purchase seven thousand tonnes of paper in August, the officials said. Giving details of the tender, they said that the paper was to be purchased at Rs 64,000 per tonne but they felt that the paper should be bought cheaper.
The education secretary also called upon adopting a transparent tender process to ensure the availability of textbooks before April 2009.
It may be mentioned here that the education department allots Rs 700 million for the STBB every year, of which Rs 350 million are for purchasing paper and Rs 350 million for printing textbooks. Buying paper at unnecessarily expensive rates will result in funds running short and fewer textbooks being printed than are needed. The board has to print and provide some 30 million textbooks for the students of the province before the start of the next academic year.
Talking about the change of the STBB chairman only a few months before the new academic year is to start, they hoped that the textbooks would be available on time if the paper is purchased as quickly as possible.
The next meeting of the committee, chaired by Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq to oversee the matter of purchasing paper, will be held today (Saturday). Daily Times ..................
