Smells of new books fill little souls

Schoolchildren yesterday began their New Year with the refreshing smell of new textbooks

As students of primary and secondary grades went to their respective schools braving the morning chill, each of them was handed a new set of textbooks.

Some students held their books up in the air to express their joy, while some were flipping through the pages after with a feeling of sheer glee on their faces.

"I will go through the pages of my new books once I get home," said Nusrat, a class-VI student of Azimpur Govt Girls School and College.

The exuberance of students turned every school ground into a veritable carnival yesterday, the first day of the new academic session and the much-awaited "Textbook Festival Day" as the government has been distributing free textbooks to students for the last nine years.

This year, the government will provide 35.21 crore copies of textbooks to 4.26 crore students from pre-primary grades to 10th grade.

The textbook distribution will continue for the next few weeks so that schools that are yet to admit new students can distribute the books among all pupils within this period.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at 11:00am inaugurated the festival at Residential Model School and College in the capital's Mohammadpur area. There, he handed over books to students from four schools.

Nahid earlier inaugurated the  festival at Azimpur Govt Girls' School and College in the capital around 9:30am yesterday. He, along with other officials of the ministry and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) released balloons before Nahid handed over the books to seven students of class VI to IX from different educational institutions.

The school's atmosphere was splashed with colours as several thousand students from different educational institutions attended the programme. Some students played drums and waved placards. Parents and teachers too joined the ceremony.

Greeting the students, Nahid said Bangladesh was the only country in the world where such a huge volume of books were being handed over to students of all educational institutions on the very first day of a year.

The government has been distributing books to students since 2010 and there has been no deviation in its efforts, he said.

"The new generation will have to be given modern education to take them to global standards. Keeping this in mind, the government has been printing new books every year," Nahid said.

The minister urged all teachers to teach their pupils properly.

Schoolchildren hoisting their new free textbooks at a school in Dhaka. Photo: Anisur Rahman

Meanwhile, the primary and mass education ministry organised a separate programme to distribute books at the Dhaka University Central Playground yesterday.

Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman was not present at the programme due to health issues. He, however, gave his speech through a mobile phone.

"The government's efforts in the education sector have stunned the world," he said.

Renowned writer Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal also gave an inspiring speech at the programme.

"Tell me how many copies of textbooks Bangladesh will provide to the students?" he asked the students.

"33 crore," came the reply.

Prof Iqbal, also a teacher of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet, said no other country in the world printed such a huge volume of books; only Bangladesh could do it.

"These books are being printed for you. So read the books once you get to home today," he added.

Popular writer and journalist Anisul Haque told the students how lucky they are to get new books.

"We did not get new books. We used to take old books from elder brothers," he said.

He advised the students to read more books and take part in sports as well.

Bangladesh's top cricketing all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was present as the special guest, exchanged New Year's greetings with the students in his speech.

"You are the future of the country. And providing you with books is the biggest task," he said, thanking the prime minister for such an initiative.

He said, "I hope that you all will concentrate on your studies and play sports side by side. You have to do these two things simultaneously and have to do them well."

Earlier on December 24, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the distribution of free textbooks.

Amid persisting textbook crises, the government in 2009 had taken the decision to distribute them for free. Since then the government has handed out over 296.07 crore textbooks.