Timely distribution of textbooks ‘uncertain’

Timely printing and distribution of school textbooks for the next 2023 academic year is ‘uncertain’ due to paper shortage, load shedding and a delay in providing work orders to the printers.

Printing house owners say they can deliver only 30-40 per cent books before the book festival scheduled on January 1. They will not be able to deliver the rest 60-70 per cent books before April next year.

According to National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), over 34,61,63,000 textbooks — 9,98,53,000 for pre-primary and primary students and 24,53,10,000 for secondary students — will be printed for 2023 academic year.

Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh (PIAB) General Secretary Md Zahurl Islam told The Business Post, “Providing all books on time is not possible this year. We can deliver only 30-40 per cent textbooks by December, but we need at least four months to deliver the rest of the books.”

He said, “Around 120 metric tonnes of paper are needed to print all the textbooks, but there is an acute shortage of paper and pulp, the key material for paper printing. Paper mills are not able to import enough pulp as there is no waver on import.”

Alleging that every stage of the book printing process has been delayed this year, Zahurl Islam said, “We demanded 50 per cent tax waver on paper import, but the government did not respond.”

NCTB Chairman Prof Farhadul Islam told The Business Post, “We have taken all necessary steps and are trying our level best to reach the free textbooks at the hands of students on time.”

He said, “Every year, owners of printing houses come up with different excuses to take advantage of the priority project of the government.”

The ruling Awami league government started the free textbook distribution programme in 2010, distributing 435.24 crore books in the last 13 years (2010-2022).

A total of 19,90,96,561 textbooks were distributed to 2,76,62,529 students in 2010 while 34,70,22,130 books were distributed among 4,17,26,856 students in 2022.

The government spends on average Tk 1,000 crore for the textbooks every year.

Uncertainty to print books on time

Printing press owners said they are facing three major crises — load shedding, scarcity of paper and inadequate time — to deliver textbook on time.

A printing press can be run with a diesel generator during load shedding, but the cost of diesel will incur huge losses to the owners. Due to this, printing press owners are forced to wait for electricity during load shedding which ultimately would lead to a disaster regarding delivery of the books on time, they said.

They also said there is a shortage of raw material (pulp) for making paper. The press owners are not interested to take the risk of importing large quantities of pulp at a time due to the continually increasing dollar prices and ups and downs of pulp price.

Press owners apprehended a disaster in the printing of the textbooks this year if the load shedding continues.

Meanwhile, the NCTB officials also fear that all textbooks might not be delivered on time.

They also are worried over the issue of load shedding which at present is 3-4 hours in Dhaka city and over 5-6 hours outside the capital.

Around 60 per cent printing presses are located in Dhaka while 40 per cent outside the capital. Press owners said books cannot be delivered on time unless uninterrupted power supply is ensured.

NCTB Chairman Prof Forhadul Islam said the education ministry last week sent a letter to the Power Division and other offices concerned requesting to resolve the load shedding problem.

Uncertainty over quality books

Industry insiders said the price of paper, ink and pulp is on the rise in the market. Moreover, compared to the previous years, providing work orders to the presses has been delayed by 2/3 months this year.

As a result, they apprehended, there is a risk of printing the books on low quality paper at the last time. Such incidents have happened in the past as well.

PIAB former president Tofail Khan said there is a concern about providing quality books on time due to several reasons. First of all, there was a delay providing the work orders.

“In earlier years, the delivery of books started from September. But this year, it has not been possible yet to give all the work orders,” he added.

Tofail Khan said the presses got 96 days on average to print books in last year, but this year, NCTB has asked the printers to complete the job in 50-70 days. Publishing quality books within such a short period of time is very difficult.

NCTB Chairman Prof Forhadul Islam, however, claimed to TBP that there is enough time to print the books and they will monitor strictly to ensure quality of books.

Books under new curriculum in three classes

Sources concerned said the NCTB is printing textbooks for three classes under new curriculum for next year. But, there was a delay in preparing the manuscripts. The late arrival of the manuscripts from authors was the reason behind the delay in providing work orders.

NCTB is printing books under the new curriculum for the students of class one of the primary level and class VI and VII of the secondary level while books of other classes will be printed as per the old curriculum.

The press owners said they received the agreement letter (notification of award) so lately that it will be difficult for them to print the book by the stipulated time.

After getting the work orders ready, NCTB completes signing of contracts with printing companies in 28 days. Then, the printing firms will supply the textbooks within 84 days. So it is a long process, they argued.

Since 2010, the government has been distributing free textbooks among the students on the first day of the New Year. But due to Coronavirus pandemic, the book festival was not held in the last two years.