The government has invited bids to a tender for the purchase 11,500 tonnes of papers to print secondary textbooks which might frustrate the government’s move to check against fraudulence by private printers.
The government usually buys papers for textbook printing from the Karnaphuli Paper Mills and such papers have a security sign for identification.
Private printers are then supplied with the papers on contract and the government can easily detect fraudulence if the printers use papers other than what they are supplied with.
‘There is a risk of fraudulence by private printer, but we need to buy the papers on the open market to save time. We will need one more month, otherwise,’ the National Curriculum and Textbook Baord chairman, Professor Mostafa Kamaluddin, told New Age on Friday.
‘If we wait for papers with security signs from Karnaphuli, we will fail to supply the textbooks in time next year. As the government for the first time is going to supply secondary textbooks free, we take up the issue of timely supply of textbooks as a big challenge,’ he said.
‘A total of 7,62,68,109 copies of textbooks will be published for free distribution among secondary students next year. The textbook board will need 16,838 tonnes printing papers for the job,’ he said. ‘We have some papers reserved in our warehouse. And we will buy 3,500 more tonnes of papers from KPM having security sign,’ the chairman said.
The government this year has found that most private printers use papers, of low quality, other than what they were supplied with to print textbooks in the absence of a proper monitoring system.
The textbook board, which is under the education ministry, is responsible for renewal, modification and development of curriculum, and production and distribution of textbooks for primary, secondary and higher secondary students. |
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