Himalayan News Service

Nepalgunj, April 9:

This year, students in remote hilly districts of western Nepal will get textbooks along with other educational material on time. Janak Siksha Samagri Kendra (JSSK) Zonal Office at Nepalgunj has already sent the textbooks to all districts in the region for distribution before the academic session begins.

"A total of 2,88,253 books worth Rs 1,18,38,238 for sale and 6,71,250 books worth Rs 1,95,17,483 for sale have been sent to offices of Sajha Publications in all districts for distribution," said Krishna Prasad Pokharel, chief of JSSK Zonal Office. The quantity of books that have been forwarded to the districts is more as compared to that of last year. It is 116.50 per cent regarding the books that are distributed for free and 157.94 per cent regarding the books for sale.

The Janak Siksha Samagri Kendra has made the books for grade I to grade X available at JSSK Zonal Office at Nepalgunj since January so that all the students can benefit. The Zonal Office sold 2,47,424 course books worth Rs 1,12,96,229 and distributed 4,25,000 books worth Rs 1,21,08,000 free of cost in the last academic session. "Considering the security conditions of the country and complaints by students and guardians earlier about unavailability of books on time, we have started sending books beforehand," said Pokharel.

According to the officials of Janak Siksha Samagri Kendra, the books are distributed in nine districts of Mid-western region under Coupon System but in Banke the distribution is based on Compensatory System. Students of five districts of Karnali zone will re-use the books in the next academic session.

Janak Siksha Samagri KendraNepalgunj, has said that it sold books and notebooks worth Rs 10, 00,00 last year. Most of the books were translated ones and are used by privately-run boarding schools. Krishna Katuwal, section officer at JSSK said, "The Janak Siksha Samagri Kendra publishes books that are translated from the Nepali version for the private English medium schools."