"The textbooks for the secondary school students will be distributed in three phases," said Gazi Md Ahsanul Kabir, chairman of National Curriculum and Textbooks Board (NCTB).

"Fourteen compulsory books including Bangla, English, mathematics will hit the stores on January 4, 26 elective textbooks on January 18 and the remaining 20 on January 22," he added.

All of the books will be available in January like the previous years, though many had thought otherwise due to the last moment postponement of uni-track education system, he said.

The NCTB chairman said the primary school textbooks have already reached the schools across the country and will be distributed among students after inauguration by the prime minister tomorrow.

Book publishers and sellers of Bangla Bazar in the capital have also given assurance to supply the secondary school books by January. They said most of the major publishing work has already been completed.

Bangladesh Book Publishers and Sellers Association Vice-president Tajul Islam said they have a stock of last year's books, which will meet 25 percent of this year's demand.

The government had given the work order to the last year's bid winners to publish this year's books, he said. "Otherwise, we won't be able to supply the secondary school books before March," he added.

Leaders of the association had feared the same to happen when the government postponed the controversial uni-track education system on December 5.

They urged the government to compensate the publishers, who invested for publishing new books for uni-track system.

Meanwhile, professional bookbinders in Bangla Bazar have recently decided not to bind textbooks of above 10 formats through piercing method.

Bangladesh Books Binding Traders Association member secretary Monir Hossain Khan said, "If bound, textbooks having more than 10 formats become sub-standard."

"The book publishers are practising this employing unprofessional binders for extra profit," he alleged.

He said a large number of professional bookbinders become jobless every year because of induction of unprofessional workers.

The bookbinders staged demonstration on Saturday when State Minister for Education ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon visited Bangla Bazar to see the progress of textbook publishing work.