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Published : 10 Oct 2024, 02:21 AM
The government has yet to send the manuscripts for free new textbooks for the upcoming academic year, from pre-primary to secondary levels, raising doubts about whether students will receive them on time.
Last year, printing businesses received work orders and manuscripts after the tender process was finalised in July-August. Similarly, this year’s tender process was completed around the same time, but it was cancelled due to the change in government, causing a three-month delay in the printing schedule.
Only one tender was finalised on Oct 7, leaving printing companies uncertain about meeting the deadline.
Despite the setbacks, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, or NCTB, remains hopeful about printing and distributing 360 million books on time.
NCTB officials say for the 2025 academic year, they need to print around 360 million textbooks for pre-primary, primary, and secondary distribution. With the book festival scheduled for Jan 1 or the first week of January, less than three months are remaining.
Parvez Ahmed, an owner of Nurul Islam Printing, emphasised several conditions for printing the massive quantity of books on time.
"If the government finalises everything and promptly gives us a work order, we will try our best to deliver," he told bdnews24.com.
He added that his printing house produced 3.5 to 4 million books in 2023.
When asked if it was feasible to print that number within the remaining months, Parvez said: "While the machines can handle the printing in two months, preparing the content is key. We also need to integrate the old syllabus, which involves creating notes and guides. The work is quite scattered, and it will take some time."
He urged the government to expedite the manuscript preparation, saying they should aim to deliver at least 70 to 80 percent of the books this year.
Giyasuddin, the owner of Sagarika Printing Press in Chattogram, reported printing 20 million books last year but predicts he would be able to print only half this time due to the tight schedule.
"If printing starts in the first week of November, I might manage to print 10 million books on time."
He added, "We used to have enough time for printing. Now, there is no time left. We cannot take on extra work; we will only accept as much as we can handle to avoid putting the government in a difficult situation."
Shahjahan Farazi, owner of Farazi Press and Publications, printed 5.4 million books in 70 days last year.
He said without the same amount of time, he would not be able to produce as many this year.
"If the government provides time, we can manage to print within this period. They are saying we will have 45 days, and we will do as much as we can."
Prakritoj Shamimrumi Titon, president of the Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association, said once the manuscripts are ready for printing, it would be impossible to finish the printing work on time.
"Printing so many books in such a short time is not feasible. Adequate time must be allowed, or the number of printing presses needs to increase. We should distribute the workload among more presses," he said.
He suggested that forming a task force to oversee the process could help in managing the situation effectively.
CONCERNS FROM PARENTS, STUDENTS
Parents and students are also voicing their concerns.
Imtiaz Hossain, the father of eighth-grader Rubel Mahmud, expressed uncertainty regarding the textbook revisions.
“We have yet to receive clear communication about the curriculum changes. If the books are delayed further, it will significantly disrupt students’ studies,” he said.
Minhaz Uddin, a seventh-grade student at Mirpur Ideal School and College, said: “It would be better if the new books were distributed earlier. If they are entirely new, we won’t have any prior knowledge about them.”
NCTB ON TEXTBOOK DISTRIBUTION
The NCTB has said approximately 360 million textbooks will be printed for distribution across pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels in the upcoming year.
The tradition of distributing new textbooks on the first day of the academic year, initiated by the previous Awami League government in 2010, saw the government distributing over 93.8 million books to 21.2 million students at the beginning of the 2024 academic year. Among them, 3 million pre-primary students, 18 million primary students, and 84,473 students from small ethnic groups received books.
When asked if the textbooks could be printed on time, Prof Riazul Hasan, chairman of NCTB, told bdnews24.com: “We have seen that the presses have completed their work by December when they start in November. If they can work accordingly, of course, we can meet the deadline."
NCTB had instructed the printing of textbooks for grades nine and ten using the 2012 curriculum, following a directive issued in early September.
The interim government has significantly revised the secondary education system, reintroducing divisions in science, humanities, and business studies, and aligning assessment methods with the 2012 national curriculum.
A notification from the education ministry on Sept 1, signed by Deputy Secretary Rahima Akhter, highlighted challenges in implementing the 2022 national curriculum, such as inadequate teacher readiness, confusion over content and assessment, and limitations in institutional capacity.
As part of these changes, exams for grades six through nine will be held with the revised curriculum, and new textbooks will be introduced in the coming year.
When asked about when the manuscripts would be ready, Prof Hasan said: "The manuscripts will be delivered on time. According to the tender, they (printers) will get 40 days to complete the printing."
He also said tenders for printing pre-primary to grade seven books have been issued, and the tender process will be completed by Oct 20.
"We have encountered some delays due to government holidays. However, we plan to issue tenders earlier next year. This year, we needed extra time for revisions, otherwise, it would have been done sooner."
A tender for new textbooks was issued in July-August, but it was cancelled by the interim government in early September.
Asked about the cancellation, Hasan said: “That tender was for printing books under the new curriculum. With the decision to revert to the 2012 syllabus, changes were required in the number of books, pages, and titles. The government had to cancel the tender.”
As part of its reforms, the interim government has emphasised the revision and refinement of previous textbooks.
On Sept 15, the education ministry formed a committee to coordinate these revisions.
However, following criticism and discussions about some members of the committee, the ministry dissolved the committee within two weeks.
However, Education Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud recently stressed the importance of delivering new books to students at the start of the year, urging swift revisions.
He acknowledged that "some errors might remain" due to the short timeframe for revisions.
Wahiduddin 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.”
He added, “I hope with the advice of all parties and education experts, we will be able to make further improvements while maintaining continuity in the curriculum.”
[Writing in English by Arshi Fatiha Quazi]
