The interim government is actively working to distribute free textbooks to the students from pre-primary to secondary levels nationwide at the start of the 2025 academic year.
A total of 375 million textbooks will be printed for the 2025 academic year, up from 350 million last year.
According to the education ministry officials, the activities will begin through opening of tenders on October 14
The process of printing meanwhile is expected to start in the first week of November.
National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) Chairman AKM Riazul Hasan said: “Despite placing orders in November, we managed to distribute books on January 1st in 2020, 2021 and 2022 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“This time, we will try our best to distribute the maximum number of books in early January even if achieving 100pc distribution is not possible,” he said.
Riazul Hasan said: “There has been a tradition of distributing books at the beginning of the academic year which has both good and bad sides, as such obligation in printing books in a rush sometimes leads to compromise with the quality of books.”
He added: “As a result, complaints like using poor quality papers, substandard binding, blurry texts, printing errors, torn books, unclear photos and so on used to arise.”
Riazul Hasan stated that this year they have two major challenges. “Revising books following the 2012 curriculum as per education adviser’s instructions and ensuring the quality of books,” he said.
He added: “The NCTB will adopt a zero-tolerance policy in ensuring the quality of textbooks for the 2025 academic year.”
NCTB officials are said to be committed to meeting the January deadline while ensuring book quality, with stricter monitoring in place to maintain transparency in the textbook printing process.
He added: “We have a team working to supervise the revision of the textbooks by modifying it in the light of the 2012 curriculum.”.
The NCTB Chairman also mentioned penalties for the tenders who failed to ensure transparency and quality.
He said: “We will make it explicitly clear in the tender that the work must be completed within the stipulated time. If the deadline is missed, whatever the reason is, we will take strict action.”
NCTB member Prof Dr Riyad Chowdhury said: “Inviting tenders for printing textbooks has already begun. We have already opened two tenders while the others are under process.”
Regarding the progress in paper mills and presses, he said: “Several meetings have been held with the owners of paper mills and presses. The mill authorities assured that they have enough paper supply while the presses said they will be able to print on time if they get the paper timely.”
On the subject of revising the textbooks, Education Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud expressed concern: "Some errors might remain due to the short timeframe for revisions.”
He said, “We had to revise the textbooks in two to three weeks to ensure new books were provided to students. There may still be some mistakes.”
Professor Dr Tapas Kumar Biswas said: “Students wish to get new books at the beginning of the year as the smell of new books brings them back to a new learning environment.”
The education ministry has decided in principle not to distribute books this year as they did in previous years through a book festival.
The ministry however is said to have been working relentlessly to ensure books are being handed over to students on time.
Following the fall of the Awami League-led government through mass uprising, it was decided to cancel the 2023 curriculum and revert to the 2012 curriculum.
