Textbooks must be flawless and standard

Students of primary and high schools have got new textbooks free of cost at their hands at the start of the new year. The Education Ministry has been implementing the initiatives taken by it for last few years. The students are glad to get their books at hands. But questions have risen in different quarters about the standard of those books.

Some mistakes and discrepancies have been noticeable in the textbooks. Not only mistakes, but also printing quality of those books has also been questioned. Printing quality inside the books is very low although their covers are glaring.

But the alleged mistakes in the textbooks are nothing new. These mistakes have been continuously noticeable for few years. This year is no exception of this. What will the adolescent children learn from the books if there are mistakes? How the quality education will be maintained? This is a matter of great concern. The authorities concerned should take immediate steps to correct the mistakes and redistribute those books among the students. As we all know that a student learns his/her basic education at this stage. And if their learning basic education is wrong, what will happen in the next?

It is found that there are spelling mistakes and mistakes in proper uses of sentences in the textbooks. Besides, an allegation of distorting poetries has been surfaced. The way and style the poets used to reflect their thoughts have been changed.

Distributing free textbooks among students at the first day of the new year is one of the major breakthroughs for the incumbent government. The government has been implementing this initiative for last few years which is no doubt a laudable issue. Many poor students are being able to get education due to this initiative. But it will be a matter of great regret if the initiative gets faded due to these mistakes.

Widespread criticism is on in different platforms including social media over the mistakes in the textbooks. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has formed a committee following the incident. At the same time, the authorities concerned have been given charge of correcting mistakes found in the textbooks and modifying books of the new academic year.

We expect that the authorities concerned will take immediate steps to correct the mistakes found in the textbooks. The authorities concerned should also take the matter very seriously so that it cannot be repeated in future. The books should be modified with the concerted efforts by all concerned and redistributed among the students immediately. The authorities concerned will have to ensure that there will be no mistakes in the textbooks.

risingbd/DHAKA/Jan 9, 2017/NA/Amirul