Janak Education Material Centre Limited has indicated that approximately 6.5 million books are yet to be printed for the upcoming academic session. Janak Education is tasked with printing around 107 million books for classes 5 to 12, and books for other grades have already been printed. The center is currently printing books at a rate of 70,000 to 80,000 copies per day.
The Secretariat of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers is overseeing Janak Education Material Centre Limited, which has been assigned the responsibility of book printing. Following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda's directive for timely textbook distribution in schools, last year's printing operation was successfully completed, making it the first time in history that all students received textbooks at the time of enrollment. An inspection team, including Anil Kumar Jha, the Managing Director of the Limited, conducted an inspection with the Prime Minister's Office, highlighting their dedication to timely textbook production.
Jha stated, "The necessary paper for printing has been procured, and the printing operation is ongoing round the clock, seven days a week, in two shifts." The Ministry of Education has decided to outsource the printing of books for classes 1 to 4 to private sector printing houses, while Janak Education will handle classes 5 to 12. The Curriculum Development Center has invited tenders to select private sector printing houses. A team, including Prime Minister's public relations expert Buddhi GC, personal joint secretary Gokarna Bhatt, joint secretary Sangita Ojha, and others, conducted an emergency inspection of Janak Education Material Centre Limited in Bhaktapur.
During the inspection, it was revealed that in the year 2079, paper arrived only after Poush, but they still managed to print the necessary textbooks on time. Jha mentioned that in the year 2080, the process was smoother due to sufficient paper availability.
Gokarna Bhatt, a member of the monitoring team, suggested improving the quality of printing at Janak Education Material Centre Limited and emphasized the need for further discussions with the Ministry of Education to address other policy issues. He remarked, "Although the center's performance is satisfactory, there is room for improvement in the quality of printing." Prime Minister's public relations expert GC instructed the center to ensure the safety of printed textbooks, minimize paper wastage, and maintain high printing quality. The monitoring team also directed the center to make necessary arrangements for timely distribution of printed textbooks to all districts.
