The government aims to deliver revised textbooks to nearly four crore students before the start of the 2027 academic year.
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is working to ensure that all quality textbooks reach upazila-level distribution points by November 30.
While printing progress is satisfactory for the pre-primary and primary textbooks, work on Ebtedayee and secondary levels is advancing.
According to the NCTB's production report till October 28, printing has been completed for 98.21 per cent of textbooks for the pre-primary and primary levels combined. For the Ebtedayee and secondary levels, the combined printing progress stands at 57.66 per cent.
The NCTB has strengthened monitoring to accelerate textbook printing for Classes VIII and IX-X and ensure timely delivery for the 2027 academic year.
This year, 113 printing companies have been awarded contracts across 623 lots. A total of 30,71,98,101 textbooks are scheduled to be printed for pre-primary, primary and secondary education, including Ebtedayee, Dakhil, vocational and technical streams.
The books also include materials for students from small ethnic communities and those with visual impairments. Printing began one month earlier than last year.
The report shows that 5,628,153 of the 5,730,640 pre-primary textbooks have been printed, representing 98.21 per cent of the total. Pre-delivery inspection (PDI) has been completed for 88.48 per cent of the books at this level.
For the primary level, covering Classes I-V, 66,629,173 of the 76,097,096 textbooks have been printed, or 87.67 per cent. PDI has been completed for 77.79 per cent of the books.
For Ebtedayee, covering Classes I-V, 26,710,784 of the 41,639,574 textbooks have been printed, representing 64.15 per cent. For the secondary level, covering Classes VI-X, 91,817,056 of the 179,543,018 textbooks have been printed, or 51.18 per cent.
PDI has been completed for 51.11 per cent of Ebtedayee textbooks and 37.05 per cent of secondary-level textbooks.
NCTB Chairman Professor Mohammed Fakhrul Mawla told BSS that more than 90 per cent of textbook printing at the pre-primary and primary levels had been completed. Printing for Ebtedayee and Classes VI and VII had also progressed beyond the halfway mark.
However, printing for Classes VIII and IX-X had slowed, partly because fresh tenders were invited for several lots, he said.
The chairman said 32 printing presses had been served show-cause notices for slow progress. If necessary, contracts with underperforming presses would be cancelled and their work reassigned to other printing companies.
