MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): Elementary & Secondary Education Department Azad Kashmir has prepared textbooks for primary to eleventh grade according to the National Curriculum 2022-23, which will be effective from Academic year 2025 and onwards.
Addressing the press conference in Muzaffarbad on Friday, Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Dewan Ali Khan Chughtai said that the prices of textbooks have been reduced by more than 50 percent. The weight of textbooks has also been reduced by fifty percent, which will provide relief to students with heavy bags, he said.
While speaking at a presser along with the Secretary Education Schools, Qazi Inayat Ali and Chairman Azad Jammu and Kashmir Textbook Board Tufail Bukhari, the minister said that the services of educationists and PhD doctors have also been taken in the preparation of new textbooks as per the National Curriculum Policy.
“To further reduce the burden on children, a register is going to be implemented instead of a separate notebook for each book,” he maintained.
Chughtai requested the media to cooperate in the implementation of the newly inducted textbooks in the curriculum. “If books of the old curriculum are sold anywhere, action will be taken.”
Minister for Education Chughtai added that only those books can be taught in schools of Azad Kashmir for which the Textbook Board has given NOC.
He said that the set of textbooks for Qaida has been reduced by 57 per cent from Rs 1126 to Rs 480. Similarly, the prices of books for other classes have also been reduced by half.
He said, “The current government ensured the recruitment of more than 3000 teachers through NTS purely on the basis of merit, DEOs were recruited through PSC, which raised the standard of government schools.” More steps will also be taken to improve the education system.
The minister further mentioned that the out-of-school children project has been completed with the support of Islamic Relief, an Islamabad-based NGO.
Under the project more than 200,000 children of Azad Kashmir will be brought to schools, the education minister said, adding that 40,000 out-of-school children will be brought to schools in the first phase.
