M M Jasim :
Guardians have expressed dismay over the quality of this year’s textbooks which are being distributed among the students of primary and secondary levels from Friday.
They alleged that books were printed by substandard paper and colour, and faulty binding make them more problematic for the students.
Officials of the National Board of Curriculum and Textbook (NCTB) wishing anonymity told this reporter on Saturday that they were also found faulty textbooks before the distribution. The officials also warned the press owners and the printers to provide quality books. But they have failed to do that.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said it would be regrettable if lower quality books were distributed. The printers found to have supplied low quality books would have to pay fines. Tough action would also be taken against them, he said. The authorities of some schools allegedly took Tk 200-500 from the guardians and the students in the name of giving quality books. The illegal free textbooks have flooded the country’s book markets. The Education Ministry and the Primary and Mass Education Ministry have started to distribute free book among the 4,44,16,728 students of pre-primary to secondary level from January 1. The ministries also arranged textbook festival all over the country on the day.
The students and their guardians were very happy to get the new books on the first day of the year. But they were disappointed when they observed that the quality of the books is very poor.
The quality of paper of the textbooks is substandard even compare to the previous years. The teachers and the guardians said that the paper’s quality is very bad. It will remain okay for some days and it will be damaged automatically. The printing of the books is very poor as the writings, pictures and other parts of the textbooks are vague. The students could not read the books easily and it will be burden for the especially primary level students. The colour combination was not right. The look of the pictures and even writings were seen shabby. It will be very difficult for the students and the teachers to find out the actual meaning of the articles. So, the study of the student will be hampered due to lack of colour combination of the books. Besides this, the set up of pictures is in problem as the pictures of any article or story placed wrongly. That is why the students will fall in problem to study smoothly.
The binding of some books was seen substandard. The teachers and the guardians think that the poor binding books could not sustain for a year to carry by the students. The books will be damaged before completion of the syllabus. Page mistake is one of the major problems in this year’s textbooks. The students will loose their interest to study due to such mistake. Faizul Islam, a guardian of BIAM Laboratory School, told The New Nation on Saturday that he received free textbooks from the school on Friday. After receiving the books he saw that some printings are unclear. Soon after this he also observed that there were many page mistakes in the books. “I took the books for my son who is class-3 student. After taking the books I identified some major problems in the books. I was very difficult to read a story in the book due to vague printing. The print mistake also will create problem,” he said.
Shamsul Karim, a guardian of Government Laboratory High School, told this reporter that the overall quality of the books is not good. The colour combination of the pictures and other part is very bad. And the binding of the books is not appreciable, he said.
The problem arose this year as printing the textbooks for the primary school students began in the first week of September, one month behind the schedule. The delay in printing occurred over the government convincing the printers to provide 15 per cent security deposit instead of 10 per cent and to agree to the condition that no payments would be made unless they ensured the quality of the books. The conditions were set by the World Bank to ensure the quality of the books. Another reason cited by the printers as well as officials was that the paper mills did not supply paper to them in due time and also that they received less of paper than they had ordered for. Printers also said that the paper mills attached priority to supply the papers to the illegal guidebook industry. NCTB extended the deadline for the printers to supply the textbooks by December 25 anticipating that it would not be possible to supply the books by November 30. This year, 22 local bidders jointly secured NCTB’s orders to print the books for the primary school students after the tenders they had submitted proved the lowest. They offered to print the books for Tk 221 crore, which was 32 per cent less than the estimated cost. To meet a WB condition, the government put in place strong joint monitoring by NCTB and the government to ensure that the printers did not compromise with the quality of the textbooks.
Some of the textbooks already supplied by the printers were found by teachers and NCTB monitoring officials as ‘not readable.’
Bangladesh Mudran Shilpa Samity Chairman Shahid Serneabat admitted the issue and said some of the books were printed low quality papers supplied by the paper mills.
Abdul Majed, Controller (Production) of NCTB, told The New Nation yesterday that they did not get any complaint yet. They would take measures after getting any objection over the books’ quality.
On the other hand, the authorities of Godnail Tatkhana Primary School in Narayanganj took Tk 200 for each book set from the guardians. The authorities also returned the money after the news was published on different news portals. Meanwhile, although the Education Ministry and Primary and Mass Education Ministry and NCTB claimed that they sent cent per cent books to the schools throughout the country, but scenario was different. Most of the students did not get full set books. A guardian of Banaphool Adibashi Green Heart College in Mirpur said that his son got all the books but Sociology.
Anupam Saha, another guardian of Udayan School and College, said that his daughter is a class-4 student. But she did not get the books of religion and Bengali. Illegal free books are also being sold in the book markets across the country. The guardians crowded the city’s book markets, especially Nilkhet and Banglabazar. The guardians said that their children are reluctant to read the poor quality books. That is why, they were looking for the new textbooks in good quality.
The shopkeepers said that there are huge demands of free textbooks in the market. As a result, they collect the textbooks from Banglabazar and some other publication centres.
