Staff Reporter :
Primary and Mass Education Adviser Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder said on Tuesday that the government is trying to put in its best efforts to correct errors in the textbooks, as huge mistakes were found in the textbooks during the previous regime led by the Awami League.
“We are trying our level best to reduce errors in the textbooks… and the success will be determined after the publication of the textbooks,” he said.
The adviser made these comments while talking to journalists after visiting Govt Jubilee High School in Sunamganj.
Recalling his childhood, Bidhan Ranjan, who was a student of the school, said: “Once, I used to come to the renowned school from the remote Madyanagar area of the district.”
“I used to come to school by boat when launch services were not available,” he said.
“So we need to present all the famed schools in the country, such as Jubilee School, before the world,” the adviser mentioned.
Earlier, he took part in the year-end class party of students in third grade and cut a cake with the schoolchildren.
Later, the adviser also visited the school premises, students’ dormitory, and old launch terminal.
In 2023, the government started distributing about 35.16 crore textbooks to over 4.27 crore students. Undoubtedly, this is a great feat that has led to significant improvements in enrolment at primary and secondary levels.
The government, especially the education ministry and National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), the state-owned publishing house looking after the printing and distribution scheme, deserve applause for delivering such a mammoth task without any major hiccups.
It should be mentioned that the government has overhauled the curriculum, and textbooks of classes 1, 6 and 7 have changed accordingly.
Students of other classes will also, in the next few years, receive books from the new curriculum.
But the students’ joy and government’s success have been overshadowed by a sizeable number of errors and anomalies in the textbooks, including structural and factual errors, outdated information, spelling mistakes and distortions of history. Such mistakes have, over the years, occurred repeatedly.
However, the NCTB seems to be paying no heed to these controversies, which only damages the reputation of the textbook board and the government as a whole.
