The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers are as follows:

¶ 02 (a) (i) Objectives of the Department of Educational Publications: - Compilation, publication, distribution and sale of approved textbooks used in primary, secondary and higher education, and acquisition of copyrights. - Production, publication, distribution and sale of textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias and other books required for educational purposes, including authoring, editing and printing. - Production, distribution and sale of teaching aids and audio-visual materials. - Promotion of reading material production.

¶ 03 (ii) Number of copies of school textbooks that could have been reused: - 2020: 1,312,442 copies - 2021: 1,563,147 copies For years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, detailed tables show the numbers of books remaining in schools, the number reusable, and the books remaining at centres (Table 01). I table these.

¶ 04 (iii) The detailed financial values by year and location are given in Tables 02 and 03. I table these as well.

¶ 05 Note: For 2020-2022, orders were not managed by an IT system; orders were obtained via order forms sent to schools, and leftover quantities at schools and centres were not separately recorded; hence precise quantities and values cannot be computed for those years. From 2023-2025, the ordering system is IT-based and calculations have been made.

¶ 06 (iv) Amount spent on printing school textbooks: - For use in 2021 (printed in 2020): Rs. 5,072,715,535.00 - For use in 2022 (printed in 2021): Rs. 3,146,662,105.00

¶ 07 (v) Measures to distribute textbooks on time: - Obtain requirements for the next year at the beginning of each year via the computerized ordering system. - Determine quantities to print for the next year based on system data, existing stocks, and contingency needs. - Implement procurement considering production lead times; prioritize printing of textbooks required first by schools; use both Government Press and private sector. - Expedite distribution by selecting a transport provider, deploying maximum lorry capacity, hiring temporary staff as needed, and planning dispatch as stocks arrive at warehouses.

¶ 08 (b) Not applicable.

¶ 09 Tables tabled:

¶ 10 Table 01 (quantities) Year | Books remaining in schools | Reusable books | Books remaining at centres 2025 | 1,522,198 | 10,044,650 | 655,319 2024 | 3,329,771 | 8,197,690 | 1,035,487 2023 | 5,787,647 | 6,360,358 | 1,778,913 2022 | 4,026,069 | 8,324,763 | 1,827,435

¶ 11 Table 02 (values in Rs.) Year | Value of books remaining in schools | Value of reusable books | Value of books remaining at centres 2025 | 644,206,808.67 | 4,790,591,475.44 | 246,049,440.29 2024 | 1,227,170,229.06 | 3,175,058,790.04 | 390,775,809.25 2023 | 2,572,799,763.75 | 2,878,483,710.25 | 770,200,291.53 2022 | 409,740,002.13 2021 | 116,002,559.00 2020 | 123,063,522.00