Textbook distribution runs into a snag
No secondary school student will get full sets of textbooks on the first day of the next academic year. At the primary level, only about half of the students will get the full sets on January 1.
Top officials of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) said they would try to provide around 13.5 crore of 40 crore free textbooks by the first day of the new year.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. These include around 6.5 crore textbooks out of 28 crore for the secondary level students and 7 crore out of 12 crore for the primary level.
They said students of classes 4 to 9 will only get Bangla, English, and mathematics books on the first day of the academic year.
Speaking to The Daily Star yesterday, NCTB Chairman AKM Reazul Hassan hoped they would be able to provide all the textbooks by January 20.
But printing industry insiders hinted that it would take at least until the first week of March for them to deliver all the textbooks.
Officials and printing press owners said besides the closure during the July-August political changeover and the subsequent decision to return to the old curriculum, various other factors like a delay in re-tendering and a paper shortage caused the hold-up.
Approximately 40 crore books are being printed this year for over 4.4 crore students of the pre-primary level to class 10. Of these, 12 crore books will be printed for around 2 crore students at the pre-primary and primary levels, while the remainder is for 2.24 crore secondary-level students.
As of yesterday, only about 20 percent of the textbooks have been printed, and all of these books are for primary-level students, said sources at the NCTB, printing press owners, and the Printing Industry Association.
For students in the capital, a total of 2.29 crore textbooks are required, while some 11.86 lakh books are printed for English medium school students. But as of Wednesday, no books were delivered to the schools.
When asked about the hold-up in printing the books, NCTB officials cited delays in re-tendering several lots of books for three primary grades, issuance of new tenders, awarding contracts, and obtaining approval from the procurement committee as the reasons.
Additionally, as the printing of all the books began almost simultaneously, printing press owners now cite a paper shortage as a challenge, especially at the end of the year when guidebook publishers also go for production.
Prof Riad Choudhury, a member (textbook) of NCTB, said, "It is true that there were national issues that primarily caused the delay, over which we had no control. However, the major reason for the delay is that we first learned that NCTB would print textbooks based on the old curriculum in September."
He said the government later decided to revise the textbooks, which required reviewing a total of 655 books. This revision process was time-consuming due to the sensitivity of the task. Besides, the printing presses are also facing difficulties in securing bank loans to complete all the tasks on time.
"So, all these reasons are causing the delay in the process," Prof Riad added.
"Considering the situation, we won't be able to print and send all the textbooks in the first week of January. But we expect all primary-level books and three secondary-level books -- Bangla, English, and mathematics -- to be delivered by the end of this year."
The rest of the textbooks are expected to be handed over by mid-January, Prof Riad added.
However, a leader of the Printing Industries Association, speaking to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said, "Although press owners have assured the NCTB of delivering three major secondary books by the end of this year, it is not feasible in reality.
"It will take at least 15 more days, meaning students will receive those three books only by mid-January next year."
When asked how much time would be needed to complete the printing of all textbooks, he said, "We are trying our best, but I don't see this being completed even by February. It may take until the first week of March."
Contacted, Tofael Khan, president of the Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marketing Association, said all the textbooks for classes 1 to 3 have already been printed, and the books for classes 4 and 5 are nearing completion.
However, there is uncertainty regarding the secondary-level books, as the process for printing these books started late.
"We will try our best to deliver a maximum of three secondary-level books by the end of this year," he added.
Last year, the government printed around 31 crore textbooks for the current academic year. However, due to changes in the curriculum, the number of books has increased to 40 crore for 2025.
Distributing the books on time had been a challenge for the then-Awami League government for the past three years.
It failed to deliver over 3 crore textbooks for classes 8 and 9 on time this academic year, as well as in 2022 and 2023, causing students to wait until March for all their textbooks. In 2021, the pandemic caused delays in the textbook distribution process.
Primary and secondary students have been getting free textbooks at the start of each academic session since 2010.
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