Printing houses are manipulating to delay printing of textbooks.
Printing house owners are manipulating to delay printing of free textbooks. They have written a letter to the Ministry of Education without informing the NCTB. However, they later withdrew it and apologized. As a countermeasure, the NCTB has set a deadline for them.
A senior official of the Ministry of Education told our time that the Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Printing Industry Association, Junaydullah Al Mahfuz, sent a letter to the Education Advisor last Sunday. It said that time is needed until March 24 to print the textbooks for 2025. It is not possible to complete the printing of the textbooks before that. At the same time, he demanded that the condition of supplying 50 percent of the books in January as per the terms of the tender be abolished and that partial payment of the bill be made before printing the books.
When the matter of the letter came to light, there was anger between the officials of the Ministry of Education and the NCTB. The ministry asked the NCTB chairman to take the matter into consideration and take appropriate action. Seeing the situation in a chaotic manner, the leader of the printing association apologized and withdrew the previous letter.
NCTB officials believe that the printing press owners may be manipulating the issue to delay the free textbooks. However, taking the matter seriously, quick action has been taken.
In this regard, NCTB Chairman Professor Dr. AKM Riazul Hasan told our time yesterday that they took quick action in this regard and set a deadline of January 31 for the printing association to supply all the books. He said that the letter that a member of the press owners sent to the education advisor is in no way legal. We have investigated in coordination with intelligence agencies and other partners, and it will not take more than the agreed time to deliver the textbooks.
According to the deadline, all primary books and secondary Bengali, English and mathematics books must be printed and delivered to schools by December 31. Apart from this, there are instructions to deliver five more secondary books by January 10, 2025 and all the remaining books by January 20.
However, the chairman and general secretary of the association claimed that they were not aware of the application being made on the official pad of the Printing Industry Association. They also wrote a letter to the education advisor apologizing for the matter.
Association President Md. Rabbani Jabbar said, I was not aware of the written application to the education advisor. I express my regret for the matter. We are working to reach the books to the students within the stipulated time.
Association Senior Vice Chairman Junaydullah Al Mahfuz said, I apologize for the letter. I gave that letter in view of the demands of some press owners. Incidentally, more than 40 crore 16 lakh textbooks from classes 1 to 10 are being printed for free distribution to students in the 2025 academic year.
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