Uncertainty looms over timely distribution of secondary textbooks

Infograph: TBS

Significant uncertainty surrounds the distribution of textbooks to secondary students in 2025, as the printing process lags well behind schedule, primarily due to recent curriculum changes.

According to officials at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), the target is to distribute over 40 crore textbooks for free on the first day of the new year to both primary (classes I-V) and secondary (classes VI-X) students.

While the printing of 10 crore textbooks for the primary section is proceeding as expected, the printing of the remaining 30 crore textbooks for secondary students has yet to begin, the officials added.

In light of these challenges, the NCTB now expects to distribute only five major textbooks per secondary student instead of the usual 10 or more, with this number typically reaching up to 13 for students in classes IX and X.

Professor AKM Reazul Hassan, chairman of the NCTB, told The Business Standard, "Funds for printing 13 crore secondary textbooks have been approved, and we expect to begin printing next week."

He added that the Army Printing Press has also been assigned the task of printing one crore books to speed up the printing.

"Additionally, the editing work for classes six through ten, based on the 2012 curriculum, is in its final stages. We are making a few updates, such as incorporating some graffiti related to the July-August uprising," he noted.

The NCTB chairman further stated, "We aim to distribute five textbooks on a priority basis in the last week of December, ensuring that students receive them by the first day of January."

He said efforts will also be made to complete the distribution of all secondary books by the end of January.

However, Tofail Khan, former president of the Bangladesh Printing Industry Association, is less optimistic than the NCTB chairman.

Speaking to TBS, he said, "Printing 30 crore books within just 45 days is unrealistic; we need an additional 30 to 45 days to complete the job. To prioritise the printing of five textbooks, some adjustments need to be made in the work order. We notified the NCTB in advance, but no action has been taken yet.

"Furthermore, the textbook manuscripts were not fully prepared and delivered to us. We raised these concerns during a consultation meeting with the NCTB, and they acknowledged them."

Officials at the production and distribution wings of the NCTB told TBS on Wednesday that secondary textbooks will be printed in 680 batches this year, up from 417 batches last year, to accelerate the process and make up for delays caused by reverting to the 2012 curriculum.

They added that this change will increase costs by approximately 30%. Last year, 82 printing presses were used, but this time around 100 presses will be involved.

This year, following the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government amid a mass uprising in early August, the 2022 curriculum was cancelled and revised for classes six through ten, reverting to the 2012 curriculum.

According to the distribution wing, the Cabinet Division approved the printing of textbooks for classes six, seven, and the technical board on Wednesday, following a tender process.

Printing will commence once the NCTB finalises agreements with the presses. Meanwhile, the tender verification process for class eight is underway, and the tender for class ten was issued on Tuesday. The tender for class nine is expected to be issued next week.

NCTB Distribution Controller Hafizur Rahman explained that the book printing process typically begins in June each year, and it did so this year as well. However, the curriculum had to be revised following the change in government.

"The tender was cancelled on 12 September, so we have limited time as we are essentially starting from scratch," he told TBS.

"We aim to provide secondary students with five textbooks on the first day of the year, with the remaining books available by the end of January. For this reason, we have obtained permission from the ministry to involve the Army Printing Press in the process," he added.

Following two meetings of the advisory committee on procurement and economic affairs last Wednesday, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told journalists new textbooks for primary and secondary education (both Bengali and English versions), as well as for students under the Dakhil and Technical Education Boards in classes VI and VII, will be distributed in the first month of the new year.

The committee has approved the printing of textbooks in Bengali and English, as well as for the technical board, for classes VI and VII for the 2025 academic year. Students in these classes will receive their textbooks in early January.

According to sources, permission has been given to print textbooks of primary and secondary education (Bangla and English versions) and Dakhil and Technical sixth and seventh classes, as well as Ebtedayee Class I, II, and III. Tk528 crore will be spent on printing, binding, and supply of these nearly 12.65 crore textbooks.

On the other hand, NCTB's Production Controller Abu Naser Tuku told TBS that printing of textbooks for classes I, II, and III is ongoing in 70 batches, with some books already available. Additionally, 28 batches for classes IV and V, as well as for pre-primary, are in the approval process at the ministry. Printing of 1.92 lakh textbooks for minority students in one batch is also underway.

"All in all, we will be able to distribute all the primary textbooks on the first day of January," he added.

He also mentioned that the work for 18 batches assigned to Indian companies is being reprocessed at the ministry, and the process for 10 non-responsive batches is also under review.

Currently, books are being printed at presses across Bangladesh. Eight batches for pre-primary, 41 batches for classes I to III, 55 batches for classes IV and V, and one batch for minority students are being printed.