Notice served to publisher for violating printing laws

The Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) has issued a show-cause notice to the Oxford University Press over publishing a book without a no-objection certificate (NOC).

The board in its show-cause notice directed the publishers to submit its reply within seven days and explain why they published a book without a NOC.

The PTCB started inquiring about the publishing of Malala Yousafzai’s picture with other national heroes and in this regard, it sent a show cause-notice today to the publishers.

It is pertinent to mention here that Oxford Publishers without a NOC published a social study book with the title of "New Oxford Social Studies for Pakistan" in which they published Malala's picture with a national hero.

Sources said objections were and after which the board confiscated all books and started an inquiry in which proved that book was published without NOC. The show-cause notice described that the publishers violated Section C of the Board Act of 2015 and it should reply within seven days in connection with the book and Malala’s published picture with national heroes.

Meanwhile, the publisher also issued a statement for the media explaining their position. The statement of the publisher read: "The New Oxford Social Studies for Pakistan (fourth edition) Primer B is a pre-primary, supplementary book, not designed for use as part of the Single National Curriculum. It includes an image of Malala Yousufzai under the heading “famous people”, in the context of her being the youngest Nobel Laureate in the world. We continue to work closely with all provincial textbook boards to obtain relevant no-objection certificates for the materials we are publishing aligned with the Single National Curriculum for the next academic session."

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2021.