Staff Reporter :
The chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Professor Dr. A.K.M. Riazul Hasan, has stated that all textbooks will be delivered by March 16.
Disclosing the information on Tuesday, the NCTB chairman said, “99.93% of primary and 91.67% of secondary textbooks have been delivered. One crore books are yet to be printed, and 2 to 2.5 crore books are yet to be bound. These will be supplied by March 16.”
Riazul Hasan mentioned that in some areas, there may be a surplus of textbooks, while in others, there may be shortages. Any discrepancies will be corrected within March.
At a press conference in the afternoon, the NCTB chairman stated, “We had tried to deliver all books by today or tomorrow. Now, we are competing with March 17, 2023. If we can deliver by March 16, we will still be second from the last.”
During the press conference, he mentioned that around eight weak institutions are not cooperating. These institutions do not have a large number of books. He also claimed that the new curriculum was imposed on them conspiratorially to hinder their progress, but they are trying to overcome these challenges.
This year the total number of books for primary and secondary levels exceeds 39 crore 60 lakh. As of Monday, around 38 crore 70 lakh 4 thousand books had been printed. Out of approximately 9 crore 19 lakh primary-level books, more than 9 crore 18 lakh have been printed, and over 9 crore 16 lakh have been supplied.
For secondary-level books (including Ebtedayee Madrasa), out of approximately 30 crore 41 lakh books, over 29 crore 51 lakh have been printed, and around 27 crore 20 lakh have been distributed as of Monday.
Earlier, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, Azad Muzumdar, stated at a press conference that there was a delay in printing some books due to delays in clearing imported paper.
Additionally, the Chinese New Year disrupted the process. Explaining the reasons for the printing delay, he mentioned that this time, 100% of the books are being printed in Bangladesh.
