It is now the Information Technology fad. The government wants us to believe that it is the panacea for all our problems. The ground realities, however, are different. The steps the present government has taken recently belie all its tall claims regarding the advancement of literacy in the country. Paper is expensive and printing costs are high due to heavy duties and taxes on the printing industry.
Books published within the country are beyond the reach of common man.
Parents cannot afford to buy textbooks and copies for their children because they are too expensive. The recent raise in the postal rates is the last straw to break the back of the common man. This hike is going to be followed, apart from things, by an increase in the rates of subscription of literary magazines and journals. Moreover, people who used to acquire books, direct from the publisher, will have second thoughts because it will now cost them more due to the high postal rates. The attention of the chief executive and minister of education is invited to the throwing out of the children of non-Wapda employees at Tarbela from Wapda schools last year on the grounds that only Wapda employees' children can study in Wapda schools.