Madhyapur Thimi, August 17:

The shortage of textbooks in government schools may end within a week as the Janak Education Materials Centre Limited (JEMCL), the government body responsible for printing textbooks for government schools, has printed the required number of books.

"We have printed the required amount of textbooks as demanded by the offices located in different parts of the country," said Ram Prasad Sharma, managing director, JEMCL. He added that books would reach districts within a week.

Talking to this daily today, Sharma said textbooks could not be printed on time as the JEMCL had to print ballot papers for the Constituent Assembly polls.

"We have started printing textbooks for the next academic session," Sharma added.

However, Sajha Prakashan, the sole distributor of textbooks in government schools, said the JEMCL was not much concerned about printing textbooks on time.

Ramesh Bhattarai, general manager of Sajha Prakashan, said around 3 lakh books, including textbooks of optional subjects for grade X, were yet to be supplied to different parts of the country.

JEMCL has supplied around 94 per cent of required textbooks, giving first priority to the mountainous region, while the remaining textbooks would be reprinted and supplied within this week, JEMCL official said.