School books to be distributed on time: Minister

About five crore books out of 36.22 crore for the schoolchildren of pre-primary, primary and secondary levels for the next academic year have already been sent to upazila offices, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said today.

“The printing and binding works of the rest of the books are going on in full swing and will be sent to the respective educational institutes within the timeframe,” the minister told reporters after emerging from a meeting at National Curriculum and Textbook Board in Dhaka’s Motijheel area.

Around 36 crore 22 lakh and 34 thousands books are needed for the 4 crore 26 lakh and 36 thousands students, the minister said.

The government is going to distribute books in five ethnic languages for free among the tribal students on the first day of 2017 being observed as Text Book Distribution Festival Day, he also said.

Apart from this, the government will distribute Braille books among the visually impaired students for the first time, the minister added.

Nahid also directed the concerned authorities to take necessary measures to ensure standard and quality of the books.