QUETTA    -    Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has given the approval to release the funds for printing and free distribution of textbooks for the academic year 2023 despite the prevailing financial crisis in the province.

The publishers were stopped from printing books due to the non-release of funds by the education department as the provincial government was facing a severe financial crisis at that time, an official source said. The education department was given the order to print around 8.6 million books at a cost of 560 million rupees to provide free textbooks to 1.1 million students in the government educational institutions of the province.

The publishers printed 25 percent of the books and gave them to the Balochistan Textbook Board, but due to non-payment of the required amount, the publishers stopped printing more books. The new educational year in the winter zone of the province would be started in March. The financial crises in Balochistan have become serious after the federal government has not released more than thirty billion rupees share of the province.