THE government’s success in providing free textbooks on time has been turned into a disgraceful matter due to the poor quality of papers, poor printing, and blurry illustration of the books distributed free of cost to students. But the authorities’ reluctance has compelled the country’s development partners to investigate into the matter, according to a report in a national daily. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has formed a probe body but the report is yet to published, though it was supposed to be published earlier. Playing with the country’s future generation is indecent and self-defeating that might put negative impression among kids and teens about the government services and their confidence in the government. We welcome the lender’s move to investigate and simultaneously are asking the government to punish the criminals.
As per the report, free textbooks distributed among about 45 million students across the country by the government turned out to be of very poor quality and failed to meet the specifications set by the government. Students, guardians and school teachers expressed their discontent with the poor quality of the textbooks, distributed among students of Class I-IX. Guardians and teachers from different districts complained that the pages in the textbooks are very thin as the printers used lighter paper than the weight prescribed in the work order, and the text and images in the books are blurry. Even, many pictures and texts have been misplaced, the binding of many books have fallen off and some pages are virtually incomprehensible.
Among the development partners who provided 10 percent of the total cost of the programme, Asian Development Bank had appointed an Indian firm to investigate the matter and check the quality. The NCTB investigation is going on and the Board has already blacklisted several printers and publishers as printing companies were supposed to use 70 percent virgin pulp paper but it seemed they used paper made from materials like recycled pulp. The printing presses were asked to use paper with 80 grams per square meter and a minimum brightness of 80 percent so the textbooks were attractive, durable and bright, according to the tender documents.
Such dishonesty is going on unabatedly as the government usually awards printing works on political consideration to a big syndicate; which dictated the award. The inclusion of ADB to investigate the matter is a mater of shame for us as a nation. Why cannot the government punish the unscrupulous people before the ADB’s report further tarnishes the country’s image?
