The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Text Board on Tuesday warned that on time delivery of free text books to students across the province would be affected next year due to shortage of funds.
According to an official document, the arrears of the text board exceeded Rs 14 billion rupees while more than seven billion rupees were spent on printing books this year. It said that only three billion rupees were released this year out of seven billion while four billion rupees were still pending.
It said that the arrears of the board from 2018 to 2023 were Rs 10 billion, which have not been paid yet.
The board said that in to reduce the financial burden and to overcome difficulties in supplying books, the old books were being reused and the students of the school were asked to return old books after change of class change.
The board further stated that the size of the books would be reduced next year to reduce costs, adding Rs 6.7 million would be saved annually by reducing size of books. This year, about 90,000 old books were reused, and so far 34,137,508 free books had been distributed to students.