Staff Reporter :
Despite facing various challenges, the interim government is making full efforts to ensure the distribution of free textbooks for students from pre-primary to secondary levels at the beginning of the 2025 academic year.
Officials from the Ministry of Education stated that a total of 37.5 crore textbooks will be printed for the upcoming academic year, an increase from 35 crore last year.
The process will start with the opening of tenders on October 14, and printing is expected to begin in early November.
“We managed to distribute books on January 1 in 2020, 2021, and 2022, despite placing orders as late as November during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This time, we are committed to delivering as many books as possible by early January, even if distributing 100% of them by that date is not feasible,” said AKM Riazul Hasan, Chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).
Hasan acknowledged that while there is a long-standing tradition of distributing textbooks at the start of the academic year, this sometimes leads to compromises in quality due to the rush in printing.
Issues like poor paper quality, substandard binding, printing errors, and unclear photos have been common complaints in the past.
“This year, we face two main challenges: revising textbooks based on the 2012 curriculum as per the education adviser’s guidance, and ensuring high-quality books,” he explained.
To address these concerns, the NCTB has committed to a zero-tolerance policy regarding the quality of textbooks for the 2025 academic year.
Officials are determined to meet the January deadline while maintaining the standard of the books. Stricter monitoring has also been implemented to ensure transparency throughout the textbook printing process.