The Punjab government will distribute free textbooks to public sector schools from Monday for the commencement of the new academic session of 2020-21, Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas announced on Friday.

A notification has been released by the Punjab School Education Department which stated that free textbooks will be distributed among students of public sector schools from various tehsil warehouses for the new academic session.

The notification read that the annual transportation of free textbooks at 128 tehsil warehouses across the province was completed by the concerned institution. Moreover, the school education department granted permission to open administrative offices on Monday and Tuesday with minimum staff. It added, ‘The same activity may be carried out class-wise with the distribution of time and social distancing for the distribution of books.’

The provincial department also directed to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the health department and other relevant agencies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.