Market flooded with guidebooks, creativity under threat

Bangladesh has occupied a unique position in the globe in many respects both in positive and negative senses. The free distribution of new textbooks at the beginning of every academic year among the learners of primary and secondary levels again has created a unique example. All the textbooks were uploaded to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board website. With due festivities, January 2 was observed as the first day of the new academic session, the 'Textbook Festival Day'. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurated the festival by releasing balloons at the capitals Government Laboratory School. He handed books to students from four schools and one madrasa. Some students were skipping around in joy, while others were flipping through the books. Many parents and teachers also joined the fun. The smell of new books hung in the air, with many of the students holding balloons and cheering. More than a thousand students from BCSIR High School, Dhanmondi Government Girls High School, Kamrunnesa Government Girls High School and Hafez Abdur Razzak Dhakhil Madrasa attended the festival.
Getting news books at hand at the beginning of the school year definitely is a special kind of pleasure to the young students. The smell of new books really made them overexcited." I am very happy to get new books. I will start  reading them as soon as I get back home," said Sumayia, a student from Kamrunnesa Government Girls High School. This undoubtedly represents the jubilant mind of the students who have got new textbooks. A parent observed: "The quality of the textbooks has improved significantly. Getting books on the first day of the session will encourage them to learn more." Thanks to the government in general and the Education Minister in particular for undergoing such a trouble and making the whole story happen successfully in spite of countrywide repeated hartals and blockades.
The free distribution of textbooks has several positive implications. First of all, the students get the books at the same time (though some remote places get them late) across the country. As they get the books without any cost and the books are quite new, they get a special kind of pleasure and excitement which cannot be bought by money or anything else. Our students have hardly any excitement or pleasure, but the smell of new textbooks fill that gap. Then many of the guardians, particularly the rural and slum ones, cannot buy books which discourages them to send their children to school. So, it attracts students to come to school. It indirectly reduces the number of dropouts from schools. It also makes the students attentive to their studies and increases their interest to come to schools. Our schools are still not enjoying places for many students. So, they don't find any interest or feel any attraction to go there. But the new books have added some value here. The school has a greater role in advising the students to be more attentive to studies as the schools distribute the books. A social bond and tie also develop between the schools and the community. All the schools can start and move forward their academic year harmoniously as the teaching materials are in their hand at the same time.
I feel tempted to share an experience here in this connection. BRAC Education Programme works in several countries of the world which sometimes gives us the scope to go insight into the textbooks and education system of those countries. Very recently I had to review the textbooks of primary (class one to six) and junior secondary (class 7 to nine) of Sierra Leone where BRAC Education is in function. All the textbooks of Mathematics, Science and English are really colourful, picturesque, with nice illustrations and good printing. Our textbooks lack all these which are the first and foremost condition to make the them visually attractive to the students. Interesting thing is, all the students of Sierra Leone don't  have the textbooks. Students of primary level get the books from the government free of cost but not all the students get them. The junior secondary and above level students are to buy books. 30-40 percent students don't have the textbooks. They use the books in groups in the classroom. They hardly take the books at home. Why? The books are comparatively costly and all the students cannot afford to buy them. Number two-- students don't take books back their home. They do various project works at home based on the class they attend. It allows them to become more creative and less book-based. Hence creativity is encouraged, students get more time to engage themselves in various activities lessening their dependence on textbooks. And no note and guide books are necessary which necessarily hinders to bloom their rational and creative faculties. Again, they don't have the scope to be fed up with so many books and homeworks that our students face every day to make them mentally sick. Definitely our students are overburdened with books, homeworks and examinations. These things still remain absent in Sierra Leone education field.
Our efforts, measures and even laws have failed to stop private coaching, publishing and using guide and note books. We have tried to ban note and guidebooks but still they flood the market. We have made law to stop private tuition, but it still proves to be a thriving business to many teachers and institutions. The famous institutions of the country produce students who are really meritorious, creative and very potential but these institutions make the learners just result oriented. These students don't develop harmoniously achieving the twenty-first century skills such as debating, presentation and problem-solving skills. They are not allowed to exercise their creative faculties. They just remain busy with particular books and questions just to make a good grade in the public examinations. To ensure it, they go to coaching and private tutors and depend on note and guide books which tell them how to pass and get good grades following a very short-cut way. May be our textbooks fail to cater to the needs of our students, and this is why they cannot stop going to their private teachers and using note and guide books.
The worse situation is, some private publishers have become the standard to set the questions of public examinations. What they set in their books are set in the public examinations. They have become the model. Corruption still reigns supreme in the field of education. Of course, it is not possible by our honest education minister alone to bring a drastic change here. He has been striving to bring changes here. We all should cooperate with him so that the field of education can see a clean picture absolutely free from corruption. We must find out the weaknesses of our textbooks and develop really creative questions so that students can utilise their own thoughts and creativity which will discourage them to meet the private tutors. The guidebook companies will develop new kind of books which will encourage students' real engagement. Closing down this so-called book industry suddenly and absolutely seems to be an absurd decision in the present set up. We must compel them to develop creative books.  
The Education Minister greeted the students in his speech while distributing the new textbooks among the cheerful students. "We are delighted that we have been able to give the students books on the very first day, despite  many obstacles like hartals and blockades enforced  by the opposition," he said. He urged them to concentrate on studies to get the best possible education.  We fully endorse the views and hopes of the minister. Let our future generation gain real education harmoniously blended with morality and empathy. They have already learned how to face and tackle the turbulent political situations. Hope they will win over all odds and be ready to contribute to the prosperity of the nation.
The writer is Programme Manager at BRAC Education Programme and Vice-President, Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association
 (BELTA),email: [email protected]