Dhaka, Dec 11 (V7N) — Financial Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed announced that while providing 100% of textbooks to students by January may not be feasible, all efforts are being made to ensure the highest possible distribution.

He shared this after a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Government Procurement at the Secretariat on Wednesday afternoon.

Dr. Salehuddin highlighted that urgent steps were approved in the meeting to expedite the printing of textbooks for grades 9 and 10. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) estimates a demand of approximately 400 million books from pre-primary to grade 10 for 2025. Of these, 40 million of the required 100 million primary textbooks have already been printed, with work on secondary books progressing steadily.

Despite an allocated budget of Tk 1,250 crore for the 2025 academic year, an additional Tk 5 crore is required to meet the target. The Procurement Advisory Council has approved an extra Tk 526 crore to address this shortfall and accelerate the production process.

Dr. Salehuddin also addressed broader economic concerns. Regarding the fluctuating market prices, he noted that global factors affect the domestic market, making it difficult to reduce prices uniformly. He acknowledged the challenge of lowering potato prices but assured that steps are being taken to ease the burden on consumers.

The meeting also approved the rapid procurement of essential goods, including fertilizers, LNG, lentils, and cooking oil, to stabilize market prices and ensure availability for the public.

This proactive approach aims to balance the educational and economic priorities of the nation as it heads into the new year.

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