Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Wednesday said textbook distribution among the students of primary and secondary schools, Ebtedai Madrasa (primary level) and Dakhil Madrasa (secondary level), and vocational institutions for the academic year 2013 will begin across the country on the first day of the next year.
The minister at a press conference at his office said the government this year planned to distribute some 170 million copies of textbooks printed under the new curriculum among 36,886,172 students.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the free distribution of textbooks among the students of class I-IX at a simple ceremony at her official residence Gana Bhaban on Dec 31 at 10am.
She will hand over a set of books to one student of each class up to class IX under general, madrasa and technical education boards.
The Education Minister will open the Textbook Festival Day at the capital’s Residential Model School and College on Jan 1 at 11am by distributing new textbooks to the students.
Nahid said that this year 107,862,714 books would be distributed free of cost among primary level students, 17,201,040 among the Ebtedai students, 114,821,331 among secondary level students, 20,595,540 among the Ebtedai and Dakhil madrasa students and 13,28,481 books among the vocational students.
“The students will go to the schools with empty hands on Jan 1 and they will return home with new textbooks in their hands. Besides, textbooks can also be downloaded free of cost on the very first day of the next year from the government’s ebook website www.ebook.gov.bd and the website of the National Curriculum and Textbooks Board (NCTB) ww.nctb.gov.bd.”
The Education Minister urged the guardians not to buy textbooks meant for free distribution from markets.
“In the past, textbooks couldn’t be found despite making payments. The dropout rate of students in the schools has reduced remarkably due to the free textbooks. The number of students has also increased. No one should have any doubts about getting textbooks on Jan 1.”
Nahid said the textbooks were being reached the concerned educational institutions across the country by 10,507 trucks.
Action would be taken if the NGO-run schools and unauthorised kindergartens forced the students to buy textbooks beyond the government-fixed textbooks, he warned.
“The ministry itself will prepare a list of the schools forcing the students to buy additional books. Steps will be taken against the offenders.”
Education Minister Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told the press conference that three more books were added the secondary curriculum this year. Comprehensive system was reflected in the new textbooks.
He said that almost 94.63 percent textbooks had already reached the upazila level by Monday while the remaining would reach by the end of the month.
The Education Minister said that 111 textbooks were prepared by 1,401 teachers, educationalists and researchers for the primary and secondary education as per the new curriculum this year.
The government has been distributing textbooks free of cost among the primary and secondary level students since 2010.
NCTB Chairman Prof Mostafa Kamal Uddin was also present at the press conference, among others.
Source: Bd News24