Shawdesh desk:

Thousands of secondary-level students are unlikely to get free textbooks on the first day of 2024, as the authorities have yet to send books to many upazilas for distribution.

‘Till now, we are yet to send 3.75 crore textbooks for Class VIII and Class IX,’ National Curriculum and Textbook Board chairman Md Farhadul Islam told New Age on Tuesday. Farhadul hoped that they would be able to distribute all the books by January 10.

As of Tuesday, 48 per cent of Class IX books and 60 per cent of Class VIII books had reached the upazila level, he added.

Farhadul said that in 2024, 31.7 crore textbooks would be distributed for free, adding that books from pre-primary to Class VII have already reached all the upazila headquarters.

‘We have around 10 crore books for Class VIII and Class IX students. Among them, we could not reach 3.75 crore textbooks at upazila headquarters,’ he said.

He said that every day they were sending around 52 lakh books to the upazila level.

The NCTB chairman said that next year the new national curriculum would be implemented in Class VIII and Class IX.

Farhadul said that the delay happened due to a delay in preparing manuscripts for some of the books in these classes.

Textbook Printers and Markets Association of Bangladesh president Tofayel Khan said that printers have already printed between 26 crore and 27 crore books.

‘We got manuscripts for Class IX recently, so it delayed our work,’ he said, adding that it might take the entire month of January to print all the books.

Officials in different districts said they had so far received between 40 per cent and 80 per cent of books.

Rangpur district education officer Mohammad Enayet Hossain said that until Tuesday, all books of Class VI and Class VII reached the districts. Still, only 40 per cent of books of Class VIII and IX reached the districts, along with 50 per cent of books for vocational and 60 per cent for madrassah students.

Panchagarh district education officer Mohammad Saiful Malek said that until Tuesday they had 46 per cent of books for secondary level students, 40 per cent for vocational students, and 75 per cent for madrassah students.

Moulvibazar district education officer Mohammad Fazlur Rahman said that until Tuesday all books for the madrassah students and the students of Class VI and Class VII came.

Until Tuesday, 65 per cent of the new textbooks for students of Class VIII and Class IX came to the district, said the official.

Khagrachari district education officer SM Moslem Uddin said that they had received around 60 per cent of the new books until Tuesday.

Cox’s Bazar district education officer, Mohammad Nasir Uddin, said that they were yet to receive any Class IX books, some Class VIII books came, but other books have already reached the district.

Kishoreganj district education officer Samsunnahar Maksuda said that some books of Class VIII and Class IX did not reach the district until Tuesday.

Jashore district education officer Mohammad Mahfuzul Hossain said that they had received around 80 per cent of the new books until Tuesday.

Bandarban district education officer Mohammad Faridul Alam said that they had received around 70 per cent of the new books until Monday.

Bagerhat district education officer SM Saedur Rahman said they had received 44 per cent of the new books until December 24.

Kurigram district education officer Mohammad Shamsul Alam said they had received around 70 per cent of the new books until December 21.

Manikganj district education officer Mohammad Amir Hossain said they had received 62 per cent of the new books until December 17.

The new books will be distributed among 3.81 crore pre-primary, primary, secondary, secondary vocational, ebtedayee, dakhil vocational, ethnic minority, and visually challenged students across the country.

Out of the total new textbooks, over 9 crore are for 2.14 crore primary level students while the rest are for 1.67 crore secondary level students, said officials.

Fewer textbooks will be distributed in 2024 compared to 2023, as the books for Class X under the new curriculum will reach students in 2025. The students of Class X will study their Class IX books in 2024.

The government has been distributing free textbooks for pre-primary to secondary-level students since 2010.