Staff Reporter :The textbook ‘festival’ was held in all the schools across the country on Thursday-the first day of the New Year.Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman inaugurated the festival by distributing books at Motijheel Government Boys’ School in Dhaka at10:30am”.This year, the government is set to distribute more than 32 crore textbooks among about 4.44 crore primary and secondary level students.The students went to their schools to receive free textbooks defying today’s hartal and celebrated textbook festival.Fariha Kanta, a student of class seven of Viquarunnisa Noon School and College, was seen exited and told The New Nation that she was very happy to get new books on the first day of the New Year. She also thanked the government for distributing the new books. Rifat Hossain, a student of class six of Motijheel Government Boys’ School, said that he admitted in Motijheel Government Boys School this year. The textbook festival was excellent. He received new books form the hands of his school teachers. It was a memorable day in my life, he said.The education minister earlier alleged that the purpose of the hartal with to destroy the country’s education system and the new generations. He also urged the Jamaat-e-Islami to call off the strike.The government has printed about 32.63 crore copies of textbooks for the purpose of distribution among students of primary and secondary schools, ebtedai and dakhil madrasas and technical institutions.The National Curriculum and Textbook Board officials said they had dispatched almost all textbooks to the upazila headquarters.The government initiated the distribution of free textbooks among the school students from 2010 when about 20 crore textbooks were needed for about 2.75 crore students, he said. Before that, the government used to provide free textbooks only for primary students only.However, according to the reliable sources, schools of several upazilas in a few districts like Patuakhali, Shariatpur and Tangail district had not received all textbooks.Free distribution of textbooks has contributed to increasing the number of students in the past five years.This year, two new textbooks on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Career Education have been introduced for class IX students, while one textbook for Technical and Vocation Education’s class VIII students, he added.Nahid also noted that despite the daylong hartal enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami, students across the country were going to their respective educational institutions with a lot of excitement and to receive new textbooks.Earlier on December 30, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the textbook distribution by handing over a set of books to each student of different classes up to secondary level students at a simple ceremony at her official residence of Ganabhaban.
