THE printing of primary schools textbooks for distribution to students free of cost is facing uncertainty as the publishers have refused to accept the World Bank’s (WB) condition of scanning the quality of the books before distribution. As it appears that the misgivings stalling the process have developed from the fear whether the local publishers will be able to supply the books at the huge low cost they quoted in the tenders without compromising the quality of the materials. In our opinion local publishers must get the job anyway but they may also agree to WB’s conditions about scanning the quality of the books before delivery. Here a huge confidence deficit is at work and it may be addressed by confidence building measures instead of taking opposing stance.
News reports in a national daily on Thursday said local publishers ignored the call of the National Curriculum Textbook Board (NCTB) on Wednesday to take the notice of the contract award blaming the WB conditions attached after the finalization of the international tender documents in which they emerged as the lowest bidder. The NCTB is printing primary schools textbooks in 11 categories by publishers outside the country from 2011 but as the local publishers qualified in the bidding this time they were upbeat about the business. But in the new conditions they see a conspiracy to put them in the sideline to give the contracts to publishers abroad.
But it appears that the WB has its own reasons as the fund-giving agency with some other donors for free textbook printing project in Bangladesh. Their fear is not partly unfounded also when the group of 22 local publishers made the bid at 32 percent below the estimated cost of printing. This is a project of Tk 330 crore but local publishers made the quotation at Tk 221 crore raising doubts how they will recover their cost. The WB fears they may use low cost printing materials to supply low quality textbooks. Corruption and scandals in free textbooks project are nothing new. It has therefore inserted the condition for verification of the quality of the textbooks by independent bodies. It has also raised the amount of performance guarantee from 10 percent to 15 percent of the project cost. The NCTB is insisting that publishers must accept the contract while the publishers are opposed to it. The entire book printing scheme is becoming uncertain in the process raising doubts whether the government will be able to hand over books to primary students in January next year.
It is sad to see mismanagement for self-interest exist in every area of public affairs. Others have started to question our ability as a nation to do things rightly and honestly.
