Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called upon those who criticise the standard of education in the country to come forward for further improvements of its quality.

"I would like to tell those who raise a question about the standard of education in the country that nothing happens overnight," she said.

In this connection, she also said no problem would be solved by mere speeches. "I think the critics should come forward with how it [problem] could be solved," she said, adding the quality is changing and everything is changing in the changing world. The prime minister said this while formally inaugurating free textbook distribution for the academic year 2017, as the "National Textbook Festival" is set to be celebrated across the country today.

Hasina opened programme by handing over textbooks of primary and secondary levels to students at a function at the Gono Bhaban in the morning.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and Primary and Mass Education Minister Md Mustafizur Rahman spoke at the function.

At the function, the two ministers presented the prime minister with "special uttariyas".

Spelling out her government's various steps for the improvement of education, Hasina said after assuming office, the government set a goal that everybody must have education as it is their fundamental rights.

Terming education as the "main base" of freeing the country of poverty,

Hasina said her government had been working tirelessly to improve the quality of education further to achieve that goal.

"We want to establish Bangladesh as an illiteracy-free country and our aim is to build a poverty- and hunger-free nation. The goal could be achieved if we make all the people well educated," she said.

The prime minister once again defended the Primary Education Completion (PEC) and Junior School Certificate (JSC) examinations, saying that these exams boost children's selfconfidence and help them prepare for bigger public exams.

The free textbooks will be distributed among 4.26 crore pre-primary, primaty, secondary, ebtedayee, dakhil, dakhil vocational, SSC vocational, ethnic minorities and visually challenged students across the country.