Disappointment has gripped the country's printers as the government has invited international printing houses for the fifth consecutive year to print textbooks for 2015 whereas almost half of the local printers remain idle during the peak season.
The government has been awarding textbook printing works to Indian printers for the last four years by calling international tender showing excuse that the local printers cannot cope with the printing of this huge number of books.
But Bangladesh Mudran Shilpa Samity (BMSS) says they are capable enough to print all 310 million textbooks the students need for 2015 education year.
"We met National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) officials and government high-ups, wrote four letters to the board not to invite international tenders for the textbook printing, but the authorities concerned called international printing houses," BMSS President Shahid Serniabat told The Financial Express.
A total of 114 million fresh books will be distributed among 23 million primary school children, 137.5 million among the junior grade school students while 46 million books will be distributed among 4.7 million students of the Ebtedayee and Dakhil and vocational institutions.
Shahid Serniabat said due to geographical advantage, Indian printers have been receiving up to to 22 per cent work orders for the last four years beating other international printing houses.
He said according to the last four years' experiences, the books printed in India are not better than those in Bangladesh. Sometimes their books are worse, he added.
He also called for BMSS representative's inclusion in the inspection team to ensure quality as government nominated inspection houses are not serious about the quality.
"There are allegations that Indian printers deliver their books in the border regions where inspection teams do not visit and the books are substandard," he said.
Around 7,000 printing machines are running in the country now, of which around 1,000 have the capacity to produce global standard printing works. This is growing at the rate of 30 per cent per year.
BMSS secretary general AFM Shah Alam urged the government not allot works more than capacity of any printer. If any printer gets work order more than his\\her capacity, the ultimate result is that the finished work becomes substandard.
"Besides, we have more printers than those of work orders," he said.
He said printing would have been an export item long ago but due to lack of proper patronage the pace of development of the sector has slowed down.
Recently Export Promotion Bureau added printing to its export products list.
In January this year, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) and Bangladesh Mudron Shilpa Samity (BMSS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a printing industrial estate at a cost of around Tk 2.0 billion.
The new industrial zone, named 'BSCIC Printing Industrial Estate', will be jointly implemented by BSCIC and BMSS and will have 419 plots on 50 acres of land at Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj.
The project is scheduled to be completed by four years where employment opportunity for 17,000 people will be created.
According to government data, about 0.4 million people are employed in the industry.
Int\\\'l tender to print textbooks for 2015 disappoints local printers
Ismail Hossain | Published: July 05, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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