Eighty-five thousand eight hundred and nine metric tons of paper were used for printing of nearly 34 crore textbooks that would be distributed free of cost among the students from today across the country.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid came up with the disclosure while giving an overview on the free textbooks printed this year at a function that marked the inauguration of the distribution programme.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally opened the textbook distribution programme across the country from her official Ganobhaban residence here on Thursday morning after receiving the results of this year’s Primary School Certificate (PSC), Junior School Certificate (JSC) and their equivalent examinations.
Nahid said 333,762,760 books on 291 subjects would be distributed free of cost among 4,416,728 students of pre-primary to ninth grades for the next academic session beginning on Jan 1.
The education minister said Taka 622.06 crore were spent for printing these books, Taka 120.89 crore less than the previous year. Each book cost Taka 19.24 on an average, he added.
Nahid said 16,500 trucks were used for reaching the textbooks to 501 points in the country.
Twenty-one thousand and six hundred people were involved in the printing of the books, he said, adding that the total number of people involved in the process of printing and distribution was 99,000.
At the function, Director General of Secondary and Higher Secondary Directorate Professor Fahima Khatoon adorned the Prime Minister with an “Uttaria” on the occasion of the inauguration of the free textbook distribution programme.
