NCTB textbooks will be revised by April

The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) authorities are working to correct errors found in new textbooks for the academic year 2023. A revised version is expected to be available in April.

NCTB officials said the revised textbooks will be published on the NCTB website around April, but the print version will not be distributed among students until the first day of 2024.

If further corrections are required during this period, they will be made after a proper review, NCTB Member (Curriculum) Prof Moshiuzzaman told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.

The same day, the Ministry of Education announced the formation of two committees on the errors. A committee of experts will take charge of the corrections, while a committee of investigators will determine if the mistakes were made intentionally or unintentionally.

In response to a query as to who will be on the two committees, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said: “There will be health, religious, and professional experts on one of the committees. They will check for any mistakes and make the corrections.”

“The other committee will be formed with experts and skilled government officials to check if anyone has made the mistakes intentionally or unintentionally. After investigating it, strict action will be taken if any evidence of negligence is found,” she warned.

The minister added that details of the two committees would be announced on Sunday.

Does the error finding system need an overhaul

According to the NCTB officials, the textbook curriculum body works regularly to find structural and factual errors, outdated information, as well as grammatical and spelling mistakes. However, educators continue to criticize the NCTB for not spotting some mistakes in textbooks over the years.

The class 6 English book for the academic year 2023 has many grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes, while the history book has factual errors.

A chapter in the book, “Bangladesh History and World Civilization”, of class 9 and 10 gives misleading information that the Pakistan Army carried out torture and destruction in Bangladesh from March 26 to December 16, 1971. The fact is that the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight on the night of March 25 that year.

On January 17, the NCTB issued corrections to nine mistakes, including the aforementioned examples.

When contacted, NCTB Chairman Prof Md Farhadul Islam said distortions of history have existed in textbooks for two years despite repeated rechecks and reviews by subject specialists.

The subject specialist has given an explanation, which is under review, he added.

Under a pilot program, the new curriculum was introduced at 62 educational institutions across the country, including 51 secondary schools, nine madrasas and two technical institutes, last year.

A team from the NCTB will visit the schools in March to obtain feedback from students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders.

Based on the information and observations provided, directions will be given to the writers panel to correct mistakes, content and other relevant issues on the new curriculum by April.

Earlier, NCTB officials told this reporter, the new textbooks for school students must not promote any kind of discrimination. However, the authorities will not make any changes that are based purely on personal beliefs.

When asked why so many errors had been missed, NCTB Chairman Prof Md Farhadul Islam said It was not a manpower issue.

“We have a plan to release a new textbook as a dummy in the public domain, and it will be sent to some selective educational institutions for revision and to find mistakes to avoid errors and controversy,” he added.