Palpa, May 22:

Infuriated at the unavailability of textbooks of optional subjects, Grade IX and X students staged a demonstration in front of the Palpa District Education Office today and vandalised local office of the Sajha Publications, the sole distributor of textbooks published by the Janak Educational Material Centre Limited.

Students vandalised book shelves and windowpanes of the counter, the Tansen-based office of the Sajha Publications said. Earlier, hundreds of students of the Sen Higher Secondary School, Janta Higher Secondary School and Mohan Kanya Higher Secondary School took out a rally in Tansen and demanded that textbooks be made available. They shouted slogans against the government.

“The unavailability of textbooks will affect performance of students at the SLC exam,” Sen Higher Secondary School Grade X student Bimal Ghimire said.

A team of agitating students led by president of the Free Student Union at the Tribhuvan Multiple Campus Motilal Bhandari, demanding that books be made available at the earliest, handed over copies of a memorandum to officials at the Palpa District Education Office and the office of Sajha Publications.