Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has demanded that the effective autonomy of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and good governance, including transparency and accountability, be ensured, stating that transferring the authority of textbook management to the Directorate of Primary Education is not the solution.
In a statement on Sunday, TIB’s Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said, “Autonomy and good governance of the NCTB must be ensured. Any ad-hoc initiative in the name of decentralisation will not be fruitful.”
The statement said, “Instead of seeking ways to overcome the long-accumulated challenges of good governance, including the NCTB’s autonomy, transparency, and accountability, it is not possible to solve the existing problems by entrusting the responsibility for printing, publishing, and distributing pre-primary and primary level textbooks to the Directorate of Primary Education,” adding that this is akin to “cutting off one’s head to cure a headache”.
TIB further mentioned that the government should take effective steps to identify existing weaknesses in textbook development, distribution, and other activities and ensure institutional good governance, including autonomy, transparency, and accountability.
Iftekharuzzaman said, “The interim government’s initiative to amend the existing NCTB law and have textbooks printed and distributed through the Directorate of Primary Education will only weaken the NCTB and will not bring any qualitative change in achieving the objectives.”
He further said, “The exemplary accountability of all those directly involved and complicit in corruption must be ensured,” adding that the government lacks justification for removing the NCTB’s long-standing experience in textbook-related work.
TIB simultaneously calling upon the government to take effective steps to ensure the NCTB’s full independence in textbook development, tender processes, printing, publication, and distribution.
