Free book distribution began during the reign of the fallen government but it did not see success whatever might be its objectives- good or bad. However, the first day of book distribution was observed with huge publicity and grandeur, even though students particularly in the remotest areas did not get books even after four or five months of that day. I have seen that many schools in Dhaka city did not get the books of all subjects after four or five months of the year. In spite of these facts, both electronic and print media used to appreciate the efforts of this government step. I used to visit across the country and talk to students and teachers. I came to learn from them that in May students did not get books. Distributed books were not of good quality in terms of paper and content. Books get torn or become unusable after several months. I saw this situation and asked the students why they came to the class without textbooks. Some answered they lost their books while others said their books were torn. They did not have any option to get the books twice. It is one kind of squeezing education. When these are the stories of free books, it could not invite much attention and interest from conscious people. However, the government seemed over-enthusiastic in distributing books free of cost trumpeting its huge success. What might be the reasons behind it? Maybe the "prestige" of the government or money may matter.

Students and teachers cannot start the classes in full swing because of not getting the NCTB books on time which has become a regular phenomenon every year and the interim government has obtained it as a legacy. We know the political landscape has changed after 05 August and the NCTB has reverted to a twelve-year back curriculum that has obliged them to print 40 crore 16 lac books for distributing freely among the students. The question necessarily arises whether the NCTB can print and distribute this colossal number of books within this short period. It is definitely a hard nut to crack. Still, the education advisor is adamant about doing it. He has ordered all concerned to distribute primary books by 31 December; and at least three compulsory books for secondary students by 01 January 2025 and all by 20 January. If this is the case and all these go in the right way, it will take another one or two months to get books for rural students who basically need books earlier than others. It creates another rural and urban divide and discrimination.

The Ministry of Education has employed a third party to inspect the entire affairs and on 22 December it gave responsibility to 150 education cadre officials to see for themselves the printing progress, paper supply, testing report, and quality of print of 116 printing organisations whom the NCTB  signed a contract with to print the books. This has been done in response to many printing owners’ showing the scarcity of papers and other constraints that also happen every year. As part of the stern action of the ministry, 80 thousands printed books have been ransacked due to low-quality ink and paper. Still, they are showing many excuses for delaying the entire process. The government had to compromise with printing companies at the cost of low-quality paper, illegible printing, and other problems as it is committed to distributing books within the stipulated time. This situation leads to students’ ultimate loss that does not come to the thoughts of any party concerned.

It seems quite unnecessary to take so much hassle and trouble when it does not play any significant role in enhancing education quality but creates unnecessary problems every year. In doing so, the quality of the contents, paper and other educational materials of the books cannot be maintained. If the government wants to do it for the sake of universal education, it can distribute books free of cost to the remotest and hard-to-reach area students and slum children.

Books need to be reviewed and gone through thoroughly to put any comments to check the quality. This opportunity also goes missing because of printing books hurriedly within the timeframe. Sometimes, NCTB invites educationists to comment on the quality of the textbooks. Literally, these educationists could have commented honestly, but they do not get to go through the entire textbook.