Kathmandu: As the new academic year approaches, students at the school level nationwide can rest assured that they will receive their textbooks on time, thanks to the ongoing progress in the printing of educational materials by the Janak Education Materials Centre.

A monitoring team from the Prime Minister's Secretariat recently inspected the textbook printing operations and directed officials at the Centre to complete the tasks before the commencement of the new academic year in May.

In a historic move during the current academic year, students received their textbooks upon admission to the new class, following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda's' directive to meet the deadline. Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha assured the monitoring team of the Centre's commitment to timely textbook distribution. "We have procured the necessary paper for printing, and the printing process is underway around the clock with two shifts per day. Simultaneously, books are being supplied to depots," stated Jha during the meeting with the PMO monitoring team.

To expedite the printing process, the government decided to print books for grades one to five in private printing presses and grades five to twelve at the Centre. The Curriculum Development Centre has also issued a tender notice to select private-sector printing presses.

The Centre reported that it only has to print 6.5 million textbooks out of the total 17 million required for grades five to twelve. Plans are underway to print 70,000 to 80,000 textbooks daily.

During a surprise visit to the Centre in Bhaktapur, PM Prachanda's Public Relations Expert Buddhi GC, Personal Joint Secretary Gokarna Bhatta, Joint Secretary Sangita Ojha, and other officials instructed the Centre to ensure quality in textbook printing, safeguard the printed textbooks, and ensure proper utilization of printing papers. The emphasis is on maintaining a seamless process to ensure that students have their textbooks well before the beginning of the upcoming academic year.