Be responsible

Be responsible

It was not surprising to know that the text books for the new academic session will not be adequately printed and delivered to the remote districts on time this year also. The government owned Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC) has always failed to print adequate number of text books before the beginning of new academic session. As a result, the students, especially from the rural and remote areas, had to suffer a lot. Same problem seems to be repeated this year “Manage adequate textbooks for new academic session, govt told” (THT, 18 January, Page 2). This problem has continued to persist for the last several years. The government has not put any effort to solve this problem.

Millions of government and donor funds have been invested in the education sector in the name of “education for all”. According to JMEC, a total of 130,000 textbooks are required for grade VI to IX for the country. It has printed only 80,000 textbooks so far. However, it is interesting to know that the government has given the responsibility of printing textbooks from grade I to V to the private publishers. It should be prepared to give responsibility to more private publishers so that all the textbooks are printed on time and distributed to all the students before the beginning of new session. Otherwise, every year in the past, most of the students in the rural areas could not get their textbooks for almost the entire sessions.

Time has come for government to either upgrade the printing capacity of JMEC or even ask Sajha Prakashan to help it to adequately print the textbooks to ensure that students will not be deprived of their rights to education. This is the people’s government in the Republic Nepal and needs to be accountable and responsible to the people. It is hoped this year that the government will listen to the instruction of Women, Children, Senior Citizen and Social Welfare of Parliament and act responsibly.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj