The Fook Festival-2024 for the pre-primary, primary, and secondary-level students will be held across the country today on the first day (January 1) of the New Year in English calendar.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the beginning of the nationwide distribution of free textbooks for the academic year 2024 in a ceremony held at her office on Sunday.
The country is all set to celebrate the Book Festival as new textbooks have already been sent to all the Upazilas for distribution among the students, sources said.
A total of 30,70,83,517 new textbooks will be distributed free of cost among 3,81,28,354 students in the new academic year. Teachers will also get instruction books.
The book distribution programme includes allocations for diverse educational levels and special categories, such as minority groups, madrasa students, and visually-impaired learners.
According to sources, 61,93,878 textbooks will be distributed to 30,80,205 pre-primary students and 1,82,55,284 primary students (class 1 to class 5) will get 8,74,4,697 books. Besides, 85,722 students from minority groups will get 2,05,031 text books and 30,96,608 madrasa students (class 1 to class 5) will get 2,71,87,776 books.
A total of 13,23,61,767 books will be distributed to 1,04,90,107 secondary school students (class 6 to class 9) and 4,14,47,642 books to 24,23,348 madrasa students (class 6 to class 9).
In addition, 11 720 57 books will be distributed to 1,73,855 students (English version); 34,94,702 books to 2,44,534 students (technical version from sixth to ninth grade, 1,79,295 books to 6,015 students (SSC Vocational), and 728 books to students with visually impaired students. Teachers will be given 40,96,628 instruction books.
This year’s book distribution programme costing Tk 1,400 cror reflects the government's dedication to ensuring access to education for all. Since the launch of the Book Festival in 2010, a total of 464,78,29,883 books have been distributed among the students up to the secondary level.
As the nation is all set to welcome the New Year, this year’s Book Festival lays renewed focus on education as a driving force of progress, innovation and empowerment of the country’s future generations.
