KABUL (SW): The Ministry of Education (MoE) on Monday (29 June) inked landmark contract with eleven local firms to print over two million text books.
The agreement was signed at a ceremony attended by officials and representatives from the Embassy of Denmark, UNICEF and the USAID.
Asadullah Hanif Balkhi, minister for education said on the occasion that around 113,278 books for primary level students and about 2,155,978 for the intermediate level students would be published in the country. “Based on the needs, we need over 42 million text books for the schools”, he said.
The minister said that printing contracts for 7 million books were already awarded to foreign firms before he joined the ministry.
Based on the terms of contract, the local companies are expected to finish the task in 20 days. Among these companies, Ahmad Company will be printing 862,400 books, Azem 782,100, Sari 234, 278, Hasib 113,247 and Nakhil Company will be printing 277,200 thousand text books.
Balkhi added that this maiden project would not only test the capacity and quality of local firms but would help promote the local printing firms.
“We are hopeful that local companies will be able to accomplish the project on time and with good quality so that they earn themselves credibility for future projects”, the minister said.
The minister also expressed gratitude for international support. It is worth noting that in this project, Denmark contributed $ 544.138 and UNICEF $ 517752 while the USAID would serve as the oversight body for this project.
The ministry has also signed contracts with Indian and Vietnamese firms for the publishing of over 16 million text books. The contracts were signed on Tuesday (07 July). According to details, these contracts would cost over $ 5.5 million that would be provided by a Danish organization
ENDS
