The government is supposed to provide free textbooks to all schoolchildren on January 1, the first day of their academic year. But this is hardly the case this year. One-third of the year 2023 is over but thousands of primary and secondary school students in different districts have not yet received their full set of textbooks. Bhola is among the worst-performing districts on this account. According to media reports, around 26,000 students of grade I and II in this district's 205 primary schools are yet to get a single textbook for their new academic year. These students' attendance has fallen sharply due to unavailability of their textbooks. Teachers, too, are not imparting them any lesson in the classroom. The students now go to school, play games and return home.
Many schools and madrasas in Sylhet, Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Satkhira have also reported of not having rceived all the required textbooks for their students. First-graders in many upazilas of Sylhet have not yet got their mathematics books, while second-grade students are still waiting for Bangla and mathematics books. Additionally, students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades have only received textbooks for three to four out of the six subjects they study. The situation is almost the same in other schools of Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Satkhira.
A textbook festival is organised every year on January 1 to celebrate the distribution of free textbooks to school students. This year has not been an exception. Although the authorities concerned could not deliver all the books to students, they instructed all educational institutions in the country to hold the festival on the first day of the new year. And many students who attended the festival returned home without the textbooks they were promised. On that occasion, state minister for primary and mass education Zakir Hossain said that all students would get the new textbooks by January. However, his promise has not yet been fulfilled. Even after the passage of about four and a half months of the year, no one now seems to know when every student is going to receive all their textbooks. The government's failure to ensure timely delivery of school textbooks raises questions about the utilisation of funds, how printers and distributors are engaged and the role of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board.
The unavailability of textbooks for a period of more than four months is harmful for the educational career of primary and secondary students. It compromises the process of learning and students' performances. Even if the students get all their textbooks within days, they will still face problems as they'd have to complete the entire syllabus within a short time. Schoolchildren are now paying the price for no fault of their own. Many schools have made them buy old books and sit for examination. The students who could not buy the old books are in most cases not attending classes. And they may become new school dropouts.
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