Dhangadi, April 19

Janak Education Material Centre has yet to provide sufficient textbooks to different districts of the far-west region though the new academic session has begun.

The students of remote and hilly districts, including Doti, Bajura, Bajhang, Darchula, Achham and Baitadi, have yet to receive textbooks, while a few students in Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dadeldhura districts have received some of the textbooks.

JEMC far-west regional office, Dhangadi has failed to provide sufficient books in the region.

Textbook entrepreneurs of the remote districts said they did not receive the books from various JEMC depots for want of supply fare. It is said that JEMC has offered booksellers a mere nine per cent commission.

Gyani Prasad Ojha, a teacher in Doti district, said students of remote areas were never provided textbooks on time.

“The students won’t get textbooks before the first terminal examinations,” he added. Ojha said students from Bajura, Darchula and Bajhang districts were usually seen searching for textbooks even at the end of the academic session.

The entrepreneurs demanded that JEMC provide the supply cost as textbooks were ferried on mules to remote villages of the region. Book sellers in Bajura district refused receive textbooks from the JEMC depot in Martadi, demanding supply fare.

Similar is the situation in Doti. “We cannot supply the textbooks for such minimum commission,” said the book sellers of Doti. As many as 18 lakh set of textbooks of grade I to X is needed in the areas.

Chief of JEMC regional office, Dhangadi, Yogendra Prasad Bhatta, claimed that as many as 12 lakh set of textbooks had already been supplied to the areas.

“We still have one lakh set of books in stock,” he informed.

He conceded that children of rural areas were deprived of textbooks due to the row over supply fare.

He said initiatives should be taken from the central level to resolve the ongoing issue.