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Published : 11 Mar 2025, 01:12 PM
The government expects it will take "another week" to complete the production and distribution of remaining 10.8 textbooks under the national curriculum that have yet to reach students across the country, despite it already being the second week of March.
Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary to the chief advisor, said: "We still have to print 10.85 million books. The government hopes to print and distribute these books within a week. That way, the delay in textbooks will be resolved. All the books will be printed and distributed by mid-March."
He addressed the subject of book printing and distribution at a seminar on Monday at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.
Azad highlighted the delay in book distribution, stating: "We expected to supply 396 million textbooks in various stages. Currently, 382.961 million copies have been printed, which accounts for 97.2 percent of the total books. A significant number of these books have been distributed."
"A further 23.7 million books have been printed, but not yet distributed. The distribution of those books is now underway."
The textbooks that have not yet been printed are on physical education, library science, and career counselling, according to the deputy press secretary.
He said: "The NCTB [National Curriculum and Textbook Board] has told us that around 45,000 volumes are printed each day. We hope that the work on the books will be completed shortly."
Following an NCTB announcement, a significant number of students in first grade through the third did not receive new textbooks on the first day of school on Jan 1 – as they usually did - but had to wait until Jan 20. Students in pre-primary, fourth, and fifth grades received their books over the next few days.
Secondary students were to receive books for some subjects in early January.
However, the NCTB uploaded electronic versions of all textbooks online on the first day of the year.
When the book distribution was not completed in January, the deadline was pushed to February. Azad said: "The books could not be printed due to delays in the release of imported paper from customs. The Chinese New Year also caused considerable disruption in the process.”
“We had set a new target to complete these tasks by Mar 10. Today [Monday] is Mar 10, and I have updated you on our progress in meeting this target.”
He said: "This time, 100 percent of the books are being printed in Bangladesh. The government has been monitoring the quality of the books. Efforts have been taken to maintain the paper and binding quality.”
He further alleged that several publishing companies affiliated with the former administration had “deliberately sought” to postpone the printing of books. He mentioned that the printing process for next year's textbooks will begin on Tuesday.
When asked if there are any plans to shorten the academic year or syllabus due to the delay in publishing textbooks, the deputy press secretary responded: "We reviewed and discovered that textbook distribution takes the same amount of time each year. According to our understanding, textbook distribution concluded on Mar 7 of last year."
"Therefore, it is unlikely that there will be a significant delay this time. However, if the curriculum or academic year has to be revised, the appropriate authorities will take the delay into consideration. We are unaware of any such decisions at this time."
