Primary and Mass Education Adviser Professor Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar has said that primary-level students received 100% of their textbooks on the first day of the year.
He made the comments on Thursday morning after inaugurating the book distribution programme at Abul Basar Government Primary School in Agargaon, Dhaka.
The adviser said the quality of this year’s textbooks is better than before, calling it a major success of the interim government. A total of 300 million free textbooks have been printed this year for the primary and secondary levels.
He added that the printing and distribution of primary-level textbooks has been completed 100%, while 60% of secondary-level textbooks have reached the field level.
The adviser said textbooks are being handed over to students informally instead of holding a book festival, as state mourning is underway following the death of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
However, he noted that no textbook festival was held on the first day of the year last year either.
Meanwhile, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) said that a total of 85.9 million textbooks have been prepared this year for pre-primary to Class V for the 2026 academic year. All textbooks have already been sent to upazilas for distribution after completing printing, binding, and cutting.
The NCTB added that the printing and supply of textbooks for secondary, Dakhil, Dakhil-Vocational, and technical levels are ongoing, with more than 58% of the books already supplied. As a result, it has not been possible to ensure that 100% of secondary-level students receive textbooks on the first day of the year.
