When textbooks fall apart

Every year, as the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) rolls out new textbooks to primary- and secondary-level students across the country on the first day of the new year, the same old issues surface: the textbooks are filled with countless silly, unacceptable mistakes, and are made with poor quality paper and print. And this year has been no exception. According to a recent report, the textbooks were printed on poor quality paper and the binding was so substandard that many of the books fell apart as soon as they were handed to the students. Since the textbooks were distributed, students, teachers, and parents from across the country have complained of blurry texts, printing errors, and unclear photos in the books. We must ask: why does this have to happen every year? Why can't the NCTB learn from its previous mistakes and efficiently print and distribute textbooks?

Reportedly, the text in some of the new books are illegible. For instance, it is not possible to understand what is written on page 121 of the English book of Class 6, according to a parent. In the History and Social Science books of Class 7, the picture of Bangabandhu is not even recognisable. Reportedly, the NCTB was directed by the government to decrease the brightness of the paper from 85 percent to 80 percent upon advice from ophthalmologists, which has resulted in the printing errors. But there are also other issues at play here. Reportedly, the NCTB did the whole printing job in a hurry and did not even look for good sources of paper before publishing the books. This is unacceptable.

Since the textbooks were distributed, students, teachers, and parents from across the country have complained of blurry texts, printing errors, and unclear photos in the books. We must ask: why does this have to happen every year? Why can't the NCTB learn from its previous mistakes and efficiently print and distribute textbooks?

This year, the government has spent around Tk 1,400 crore to print 30.71 crore books. It is public money that the NCTB has spent for the project and it should be held accountable for any misuse of funds and mismanagement during the process. Does the NCTB have an excuse for their chronic mismanagement and inefficiency?

Another question that we must raise at this point is: should the NCTB even be given the responsibility to publish the textbooks? The organisation's main responsibilities are developing curriculum and conducting research, not printing textbooks. Given its consistently poor track record, the government must take serious steps this year to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated. It must stop printing low-quality and error-ridden textbooks once and for all.

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