TAXILA: Though the new academic session started on April 11 and the summer vacations are around the corner, hundreds of students, especially studying in class-1, 2 and kindergarten (KG) in the government-run schools in Hassanabdal are without textbooks.

As the first session of the academic year (2016-17) drew closer and the students are preparing for the summer vacations scheduled from the next week, the education department failed to provide the textbooks.

On the other hand, the students and their parents continued visiting markets but the booksellers are turning them away as they have not yet received the textbooks.

Zaf far Iqbal, whose son studies in the government primary school Punja Bazaar, said over the last two months he had been daily visiting the bookshops to get the Punjab Textbook Board`s books for his son who is studying in class-1.

The booksellers are also not sure when the missing books will be provided to them. `It may take another two or three months but we really do not know when the problem would be resolved,` said a bookseller.

One of the students, Abdullah, said the government should first ensure the availability of textbooks and then launch nationwide enrolment campaigns.

`I f all to understand how the government will succee d in its efforts if it cannot provide textbooks to the already enrolled students,` added Humera Bibi, the mother of a student.

This correspondent also contacted the administration officials of different schools who were also perturbed over the decision of the Punjab Textbook Board to change the course of grade 1 to 5. The school administrations said if the textbook board had no capacity to supply books to the students, it should entrust the responsibility to some private publishers.

Some of the private schools using the books of the Punjab Textbook Board said they were considering adopting the books of other publishers to avoid such a situation in future.

`We cannot afford wasting the time of the students,` said a teacher of a primary school, who wished not to be named.

When contacted, district education officer Khalid Chaudhry confirmed that the three classes were still without books. He said as the syllabus was changed, the demand had been submitted to the provincial education authorities. He said the books would be provided to the students after the summer vacations. The official confirmed that books were also not available in the market.

The parents, meanwhile, have called upon the textbook board to take urgent steps for the supply of the textbooks in the market so that the students can start their studies without wasting more time.