Peshawar, May 2025 – The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed a petition challenging the KP Textbook Board’s contracts and policies related to textbook printing and profit-sharing with private publishers.

A two-member bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Faheem Wali heard the case and lifted the previous stay order, allowing the KP Textbook Board to continue printing school books under the existing tender.

The petitioners’ lawyer argued that the 2017 policy of the KP Textbook Board required a fair bidding process for textbook printing. According to the lawyer, all books must be reviewed, certified by the Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education, and selected by the Provincial Select Committee.

In 2021, a Single National Curriculum was introduced by the federal government, which promised free textbooks for students in public schools. While students from grades 1 to 5 received free books, books for classes 6 to 8 were sold in the market by private publishers. These publishers were expected to share profits with the KP Textbook Board.

However, the petitioners argued that the updated policy did not include profit-sharing and such practices were damaging the local publishing industry. They also claimed that no fair bidding was held and they were excluded from the process.

They further stated that the federal government directly gave contracts to private publishers, bypassing proper procedures, and asked the provinces to sign deals with them.

On the other hand, the KP Textbook Board’s lawyer defended the process. He said the agreement followed the law and Constitution, and the contract was approved by the provincial cabinet. He also stated that the tender was awarded on merit, without any favoritism.

With the PHC’s decision, the KP Textbook Board can now move ahead with printing textbooks as planned.