50,000 school textbooks seized in city

The taskforce on textbooks seized 50,000 school textbooks from a publishing house in the city's Banglabazar area early yesterday.
A team of the taskforce led by Flight Lt Nazrul Kabir raided Raihan Printers Limited on RM Das Road in Banglabazar at about 1:00am and recovered the textbooks.
But the taskforce could not arrest its owner. The books were stored there despite directives from the government to sell all textbooks to ease the prevailing textbook crisis.
Meanwhile, National Curriculum and Textbooks Board (NCTB) is planning to reprint more 15 percent of the total printed textbooks (total 2.62 crore) to resolve the persisting textbook crisis at the secondary level, NCTB sources said.
NCTB may call tender within two or three days for reprinting the additional number of textbooks so that students can buy their necessary books easily from the market, according to the source.
“It is true that 2.62 crore textbooks is not enough for secondary level students now. So, NCTB after consultation with the education minister and its top officials may take a decision of reprinting more 15 percent of the total printed textbooks,” Colonel Reza-nur-Rahman Khan, chief of the taskforce on textbooks and additional director general of Rab told The Daily Star.
Replying to a question, the taskforce chief said publishers identified three main reasons behind the textbooks crisis include NCTB's decision of printing less textbooks against its actual demand, delayed release of white papers by NCTB and giving less time for printing the textbooks.
Publishers also said recently held Eid festival, parliament elections and upazila elections also have hampered the process of printing the textbooks and its' marketing, he said.