The misuse of textbooks in schools is a concern for the Education Ministry.

Education Minister Rosy Akbar says some schools requested for a particular textbook every year.

She adds some schools order extra textbooks as these could be used by other schools.

The government is providing free textbooks and the minister says this does not mean that schools can abuse this initiative.

“Here you go, left, right center, you order books and sometimes you order when the school opens. You wait and you wait, and you wait. Plan your work. If you know you have 100 students and you know the trend is 100 -120 in the last three years, you order it based on that. Get your students to be more responsible and accountable for the books we give them, it’s costing us a lot of money. That money can be diverted to other uses.”

Akbar says some schools did not receive their textbooks on time and it is their fault as they should send their requests early.

The Education ministry will closely process all textbooks requests before it is supplied to schools.