DUSHANBE, February 22 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Minister of Education Nouriddin Saidov has sharply criticized printing houses for failure to fulfill their obligations on contracts concluded with the Ministry of Education (MoE) on printing textbooks for high schools.

His criticism, directed at printing houses, came during today’s meeting with senior representatives of the printing houses that concluded contracts with ministry.

The source at a MoE says the printing houses were given ten days to fulfill their obligations on the contracts.

The ministry has reportedly concluded contracts with eighteen printing houses on printing 31 items of textbooks and to-date, the printing houses have fulfilled their obligations on printing only three items, while the printing term expired nearly six months ago.