Indian printers late in sending all textbooks
The government may not be able to distribute textbooks to all students of class I, II and III on the first day of the new academic year as Indian companies printing a bulk of the books have not yet delivered the primary textbooks with just nine days left before the beginning of the new academic year.
According to National Curriculum and Textbook Board sources, Indian companies delivered only 43 per cent of the textbooks before Monday.
According to the contracts, the companies printing the primary textbooks were supposed to deliver the books between October 30 and November 15. The government then decided that all textbooks would be distributed to upazila levels by December 21. The Indian companies missed the second deadline while local companies delivered most of the books they printed.
This year the government called an international tender for printing the textbooks of classes I, II and III to ensure timely distribution of books to the students, and three Indian companies got the lions share of the deals.
Ironically, it is the foreign companies who failed to print and send the textbooks to the NCTB on time.
As the situation suggests, 40 or 50 per cent students of classes I, II, may not get all the textbooks on the first day of the new academic year, Tofael Khan, president of Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marketing Association, told New Age on Tuesday.
Ratan Siddique, the NCTBs special official for the distribution of textbooks, admitted the delay in the delivery of textbooks by the Indian companies, but said, They are on the way; about 87 trucks carrying the books have crossed the border into Bangladesh and will reach us very shortly.
He said that the NCTB had already received 1,98,00,000 of the 2,98,00,000 textbooks printed in India. The rest of the books would reach the country very shortly, he said.
They (Indian companies) do not have the capacity to print such large amount of books but some NCTB officials helped them to win the tenders for bribes, said a local printer.
Two out of three companies who got the international tender are not printers. The government should investigate how they won the tender, said Tofael.
The Indian companies got many benefits for printing the textbooks, including getting the payment in advance. The government should find out why they cannot distribute the textbooks in time, said Tofael.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, in a meeting with NCTB officials on December 4, said that the textbooks must be sent to the districts by December 15, to the upazilas by December 21, and to educational institutions by December 24.
But all the textbooks were not distributed to the upazilas by December 21.According to the NCTB, 95.13 per cent of the secondary textbooks and 85.34 per cent of the primary books have been distributed to the upazilas.
What can we do if the truck carrying textbooks are stuck in a traffic jam? said NCTB chairman Mostafa Kamaluddin. He, however, pointed out that most of the books had been distributed.
Referring to the books printed by Indian companies, he said, Some international tendered textbooks have not yet arrived but they would reach the country very shortly.
Textbooks will be distributed to all students on the first day of new academic year, he said optimistically.
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The government may not be able to distribute textbooks to all students of class I, II and III on the first day of the new academic year as Indian companies printing a bulk of the books have not yet delivered the primary textbooks with just nine days left before the beginning of the new academic year.
According to National Curriculum and Textbook Board sources, Indian companies delivered only 43 per cent of the textbooks before Monday.
According to the contracts, the companies printing the primary textbooks were supposed to deliver the books between October 30 and November 15. The government then decided that all textbooks would be distributed to upazila levels by December 21. The Indian companies missed the second deadline while local companies delivered most of the books they printed.
This year the government called an international tender for printing the textbooks of classes I, II and III to ensure timely distribution of books to the students, and three Indian companies got the lions share of the deals.
Ironically, it is the foreign companies who failed to print and send the textbooks to the NCTB on time.
As the situation suggests, 40 or 50 per cent students of classes I, II, may not get all the textbooks on the first day of the new academic year, Tofael Khan, president of Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marketing Association, told New Age on Tuesday.
Ratan Siddique, the NCTBs special official for the distribution of textbooks, admitted the delay in the delivery of textbooks by the Indian companies, but said, They are on the way; about 87 trucks carrying the books have crossed the border into Bangladesh and will reach us very shortly.
He said that the NCTB had already received 1,98,00,000 of the 2,98,00,000 textbooks printed in India. The rest of the books would reach the country very shortly, he said.
They (Indian companies) do not have the capacity to print such large amount of books but some NCTB officials helped them to win the tenders for bribes, said a local printer.
Two out of three companies who got the international tender are not printers. The government should investigate how they won the tender, said Tofael.
The Indian companies got many benefits for printing the textbooks, including getting the payment in advance. The government should find out why they cannot distribute the textbooks in time, said Tofael.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, in a meeting with NCTB officials on December 4, said that the textbooks must be sent to the districts by December 15, to the upazilas by December 21, and to educational institutions by December 24.
But all the textbooks were not distributed to the upazilas by December 21.According to the NCTB, 95.13 per cent of the secondary textbooks and 85.34 per cent of the primary books have been distributed to the upazilas.
What can we do if the truck carrying textbooks are stuck in a traffic jam? said NCTB chairman Mostafa Kamaluddin. He, however, pointed out that most of the books had been distributed.
Referring to the books printed by Indian companies, he said, Some international tendered textbooks have not yet arrived but they would reach the country very shortly.
Textbooks will be distributed to all students on the first day of new academic year, he said optimistically.
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