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Textbook printing in limbo on paper dearth

SURANJITH DEABNATH
Secondary school students are unlikely to get fresh textbooks at the beginning of their academic session as publishers and printing houses will not be able to print books in time due to shortage of paper.
Sources said there is an acute crisis of paper now because of heavy use of paper by the Election Commission (EC) and the candidates of the parliamentary polls to print 8.11 crore ballot papers and a huge amount of posters ahead of the election.
Besides, all 76 textbooks of classes VI to X will have to be printed newly this time due to intro-
duction of creative question (CG) method from the next academic session. Usually 30 percent old books are being used every year but those books could not be used again because of the new system, said a source of the National Curriculum and Textbooks Board (NCTB).
For these reasons, the NCTB officials and owners of the printing houses fear that students would have to wait two to three months for getting all textbooks in the market. As such the guardians may have to buy textbooks at three to four times higher than the actual price at the beginning of the session.
The NCTB usually collects paper from Karnaphuli Paper Mills and supplies it to the printing houses at a subsidised rate. But Karnaphuli mills had to provide a huge quantity of paper to the EC this year for printing ballot papers of the forthcoming polls.
Owners of some printing houses alleged that around five crore books are needed to be printed for providing textbooks to all students but the NCTB floated tender for printing only 2.62 crore books.
Besides, the NCTB has supplied only 3.50 lakh rims of paper to the printing houses while around six lakh rims of paper is required to print 2.62 crore books, NCTB sources said.
“How can the NCTB float tender to print 2.62 crore books? Around 4.10 crore books were printed in 1996
when all of the textbooks were published afresh," said an owner of a printing company.
However, NCTB Chairman Masir Uddin hoped that all of the books would be printed before the next academic year.
“Yes, we've faced difficulty in getting our required paper as Karnphuli mills had to supply paper to the EC. But I hope all required paper will be sent to the printing houses by the end of this year,” said Masir Uddin while talking to The Daily Star.
He also said that they would market the textbooks in three phases considering the demands from students.
“How can we print the textbooks before beginning of the next academic year? NCTB has provided positives of 14 out of 76 books," said an owner of a renowned printing
house.
“There are mainly two reasons for textbook crisis. These are lack of sufficient paper and printing less number of books than the required one," said Shah Alam, standing committee convenor of Bangladesh Book Publishers and Sellers’ Association.
They are also facing trouble in printing textbooks due to disruption in power supply, he said.
Meanwhile, the NCTB decided to print nine lakh Bengali textbooks and seven lakh English and Mathematics books each for every class, as these are compulsory subjects.
NCTB officials said they provided per rim paper to the printing houses at Tk 835 while the market price is Tk 1,200.
They alleged that many printing house owners sell the paper supplied by the NCTB to get immediate benefit, which is another reason for book crisis.
The NCTB chairman said that they would monitor the activities of 291 printing houses, which are awarded tender for printing books.
“We will take stern action against those printing houses that are involved in selling paper provided by the NCTB. We will reject those printing houses next time if the allegation of selling paper against them is proved," he added.
The NCTB floated tender in November but some owners of the printing houses have suggested doing it in September or October so that textbooks can be reached to the students in time.