MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Dewan Ali Khan Chughtai has announced the reduction of textbook prices by more than 50 percent along with the weight, which has also been reduced by fifty percent, which will provide relief to students with heavy bags, he said.
Addressing the press conference in Muzaffarbad, Minister for Education said that the reduction in textbook weight will provide relief to students with heavy bags.
“To further reduce the burden on children, a register is going to be implemented instead of a separate notebook for each book,” he maintained.
While speaking at a presser along with the Secretary Education Schools, Qazi Inayat Ali and Chairman Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Textbook Board Tufail Bukhari, Chughtai 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 that 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.”
Apart from that, the minister announced that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Textbook Board 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.
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. 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.
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.
