State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj has directed printing firms to deliver all government primary school textbooks by 5 November.
He warned that organisations using old machinery will be barred from receiving contracts from next year.
Stressing strict compliance with set standards and specifications in printing textbooks, Bobby Hajjaj issued the directives on Thursday during an inspection of Bornomala Press and Global Printing Equipment in Matuail in the capital.
During the visit, he personally observed the printing process, the machinery in use, paper quality, and the overall print quality of the books on site.
Speaking during the inspection, Bobby Hajjaj said accepting the responsibility of textbook printing implies completing the work while maintaining prescribed standards.
He noted that any operational limitations should be taken into account before participating in tenders. Compromising on book quality under the pretext of machinery capacity or technical limitations will not be tolerated, as ensuring the quality specified by the government is the duty of the organisation concerned.
While examining print quality, he identified inconsistencies in colour layout and alignment in a few books.
Bobby Hajjaj warned the personnel concerned to ensure such flaws do not affect a large portion of the produced books, whilst stressing the need to strengthen quality control and monitoring of printing operations.
He further remarked that simply finishing the job is insufficient; it must be ensured that each book is printed according to set criteria. Delivering quality textbooks to students is a responsibility of the government, and any form of negligence or sub-standard work is unacceptable.
He directed the printing firms concerned to ensure the delivery of all books within the set deadline and instructed them to prepare for adopting modern and suitably capable printing machinery in the future.
Representatives of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, as well as officials from the printing organisations concerned, were present during the inspection.
