Limitations must be overcome

The 'Textbook Distribution Festival-2024' is the best English New Year gift for the young learners. The joy of getting new books in a new class is different. The smell of new books wafts over students like the smell of flowers. As regardless of financial status, everyone gets the same new book, there is universality in this festival. Undoubtedly, this is a commendable initiative of the government. But this year, all the books of eighth and ninth class students have not yet reached many upazilas of the country, which is not ideal for such a grand festival.

In the past, many unexpected events have happened with book distribution. In that case, the publishers failed to supply the books to the students on time. Textbooks were printed using low-quality paper and the print was illegible as well. Moreover, free books were used to be sold in the black market then. In 2001, due to the dishonesty of the printing company and the organization responsible for printing the books, it was not possible complete the printing task on time. Due to the reason, students did not get the books on time that year. To solve these problems, the government decided to organize a free book distribution festival in 2009. This festival was held for the first time on January 1, 2010. Since then the government has been successfully celebrating the 'Textbook Distribution Festival.' In the last 13 years, about 4.5 billion books have been distributed among 42.5 million students, which is a rare example in the entire world.

Textbook Distribution Festival Day was celebrated across the country including the capital on Monday (January 1). On the first day of the academic year, new books were handed over to nearly 60 million students of primary and secondary level. Already, the smell of new books has spread in all schools across the country. On the first day of the academic year, the students were overjoyed to get new books in their hands. All educational institutions are full of their enthusiasm and joy.

However, media reports said that this year new curriculum would be introduced for the eighth and ninth grades. Due to delays in the manuscript preparation of these books, the printing of books for these two grades has only just begun. So, we have to wait for some more days to get those. The question is, despite the long-term experience of NCTB, why it is not possible to supply books to all the upazilas on time. The issue needs to be looked into.

If there is any negligence in this case, it is recommended to take necessary action against the employees concerned. Such a major arrangement may have some flaws and limitations. Authorities concerned should overcome these limitations. Therefore, by correcting these limitations and mistakes, the authorities concerned should focus on how to make this great initiative completely successful.