After the ouster of the authoritarian Awami League government last year, the interim government faced difficulties in completing the work of providing free textbooks this year. Even though four months have passed since the start of the new academic year, students have not yet received all the books, although the NCTB has already completed all the work.

In this situation, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has started working early to provide books within the stipulated time next year.

Sources at NCTB said due to the collapse of the previous government, they were under pressure to complete the book printing work this year. However, the Ministry of Education has instructed them to provide the books by January next year. NCTB is working according to that instruction.

The Annual Procurement Plan (APP) has been finalised. The work of the specification committee regarding the size of the books, paper brightness, cover, number of pages, binding has been completed. The work of the tech committee to know the number of books is also nearing completion. Once the tender documents are prepared, NCTB will consider demands from the field level. After that, they will float tenders after receiving instructions from the interim government. NCTB is making every effort to complete all the work and open the tender by April.

Sources at the textbook branch of NCTB said following the sudden fall of the fascist regime, the interim government cancelled some tenders floated by the previous government. That would not have been a problem, if the curriculum was not changed. Instead of adopting the new curriculum, the government decided to bring bang the old system. As many as 116 books of the old curriculum were revised, which took a long time. On top of that, paper shortage made it impossible to provide the books on time. However, that mistake will not happen next year. Preparations are already underway.

The sources also said students who passed class 10 this year will be given revised and updated textbooks prepared in the light of the previous curriculum in order to take the SSC and equivalent examinations in 2026. A short syllabus of the textbooks will be prepared so that students can complete the curriculum within one academic year.

The education ministry directive to the NCTB also said the students who will pass the ninth grade in 2025, will be given revised and updated textbooks based on the branch and cluster-based curriculum of 2012. These students will participate in 2027 in the SSC and equivalent examinations after completing the full curriculum in two academic years, in the ninth and tenth grades. The revised curriculum will be finalised in 2025 with the help of educationists, curriculum experts, pedagogues, evaluation experts, relevant subject experts, relevant education administrators, representatives of civil society and guardian representatives, which will be fully implemented from 2026.

MM Mohsin Mia, owner of Bright Printing and Press, told the Daily Sun, “We have completed the work of the books for 2025, but we have not received the bill yet. In the meantime, NCTB has started internal preparations to complete the work of next year's book on time. However, the process has not reached us yet. We are committed to delivering the books on time.”

NCTB Member (textbooks) Prof Riad Choudhury said, “We started the preparatory work for printing next year's books in March. We will assess the demand for books. However, we will not take last year’s process. It will be checked repeatedly. The demand letter has already been sent. Work is also underway accordingly. However, it will take a few days to input into the software. Once all the work is completed, we will be ready for the tender. Hopefully, the tender process will start within April."

Commenting on the matter, NCTB Chairman (Routine Responsibilities) Prof Robiul Kabir Chowdhury told the Daily Sun, “We have already completed all the work to go into the tender process. We hope that the students will get all the books by January next year. For this purpose, several instructions have been prepared for the press owners. There will be no major changes. There will be normal revision of the books and the work of curriculum development will also continue.”

NCTB wants to watermark textbooks, press owners oppose

The textbook authorities are considering placing a watermark with the NCTB logo in books from the 2026 academic year to provide quality books. On 10 March, NCTB officials held several meetings with 25 paper producing stakeholders, including printing houses and paper mill owners. Although many mill owners are interested in printing books on watermarked paper, many are also opposed.

Press owners say that watermarking paper is a good initiative. With this, students will get good quality books. However, every year the printers face a paper shortage while working on books. Even though the government arranges paper, they have to suffer this problem. As a result, books cannot be delivered on time.

Consequently, the government puts pressure on the press owners. If a plan is made to print books on watermarked paper, the government will have to arrange for its supply. But if it cannot ensure the supply, the problem will increase. In such a situation, there is a fear that this decision will not be implemented in the face of objections from mill owners. However, NCTB officials said that paper will be imported from abroad if necessary.

A press owner, who did not wish to be named, told the Daily Sun, "NCTB is constantly issuing various instructions. It is issuing different rules each time. Watermarking is a good initiative, but doing so will lead to a paper shortage again. If we cannot ensure paper supply first, there will be no profit from just taking the initiative."

This year's textbook supply completed

Clearance to supply all the NCTB books to the upazilas was provided on 24 March, after almost three months since the start of the academic year. The books reached the upazila level even during the holidays. In some places, books were distributed to students even during the holidays, while in others, school authorities decided to distribute them after the Eid holidays.

Our correspondent found that all the books from the first to the third grade of primary school had already been distributed. Some books for the fourth and fifth grades were yet to be supplied. They were released by 20 March.

Meanwhile, NCTB completed the distribution of the tenth grade books of secondary school first. Then, books for the sixth and seventh grades were distributed on a priority basis. There was a shortage of books for the eighth and ninth grades. That too was sent to all upazila levels in the last week of March. The supply of books for the Ebtedayee and Dakhil of the madrasahs has also been completed. They will be distributed after the madrasahs open on 8 April.