KATHMANDU, March 11: A private publication house in Kathmandu has been found printing textbooks illegally.
A monitoring committee deployed by the Department of Education (DoE) on Tuesday found that Sitapaila-based Mission Publication was printing textbooks of grade six and seven without government's permission.
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The publication house is authorized to print and supply books only for grade one to five. Textbooks of grade six to 10 are published by Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC).
The DoE's monitoring team said they would recommend strong action against the publication house. “This is the first case we have come across and we are sure that many others are printing the school textbooks illegally,” said Sarital Aryal, member of the DoE's monitoring committee and vice chairperson of Guardian's Association of Nepal.
The press workers were busy printing and binding the books though the owner claimed that the textbooks were from previous year, said Aryal. “The team estimated that the press had published at least 10,000 copies of textbooks,” she claimed.
“We will ask the authorities to blacklist the publication house, which is working against the government's interest,” Aryal told Republica.
Meanwhile, Director of the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) Diwakar Dhungel said the finding of the monitoring team was preliminary and the office would act after proper investigation.
“Let the committee submit its report. CDC will seek clarification from the publication house,” Dhungel added. The government can blacklist and/ or fine the publication house for publishing school textbooks without permission.
Following widespread criticism over the delay in printing and delivering textbooks across the country, the Ministry of Education decided to allow the private sector to print textbooks for the primary level.
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