The government distributed 260.86 crore textbooks for free among the pre-primary, primary, secondary, ebtedayee and SSC level students in the last nine academic years. “The government has distributed 260,85,91,290 copies of free textbooks among students across the country during the last nine years,” National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) Chairman Prof Narayan Chandra Saha told BSS here on Monday.
He said the government distributed all textbooks free of cost among students on the very first day of new academic year. The Education Ministry sources said the free textbooks were distributed among students of pre-primary, (languages of ethnic groups), primary (Bangla and English version, secondary, ebtedayee, dakhil, SSC vocational/technical, brail for visually challenged students across the country. Prof Narayan said the government distributed 35,42,90,162 free textbooks among the primary and secondary level students in the academic year 2018. “We are giving guidelines for teachers to make creative question paper systems easily understandable among the students,” he added. In 2018, nearly 44 million schoolchildren across the country celebrated the Textbook Festival receiving books free of cost for their new classes on the first day of the New Year joining the festivity at schools and madrasahs across the country.
Education ministry officials said 35,42,90,162 textbooks were distributed among 4,37,06,895 students of pre-primary, primary, ebtedayee, secondary, dhakhil and technical students for the 2018 academic year as the schools and the other equivalent educational institutions staged ceremonies at their compounds to hand them over the newly printed books. “This (festival) is the outcome of our (government’s) sincere commitment to reach the books on the first day of the year,” a top official of the Education Ministry said.
Distribution of free textbook started since 2010 at both primary and secondary level, he said adding 260,85,91,290 copies of textbooks were distributed from 2010 to 2018, he added.
He said Bangladesh has set a rare example in the world through distribution of free textbooks among large number of students on the first day of January.
