Errors galore in new textbooks

After the distribution of new textbooks this year, the Daily Sun has analysed three textbooks of Class IX and Class X intensively and found at least 30 serious mistakes.

For instance, on page 200 of ‘Bangladesher Itihas o Biswa Savyata’ (Bangladesh History and World Civilisation) book, it is mentioned while stating about history of parliamentary government system in the country, authors write, “On January 12, 1972, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was sworn in as Prime Minister by Chief Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem. Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was appointed as the President on the same day.”

In reality, Bangabandhu was sworn in by the then President Abu Sayeed Chowdhury. Wrong information is presented in ‘Bangladesh o Biswa Porichoy’ (Bangladesh and Introduction to the World) book as well. On page 16 of the book, there was fabricated information about historic places of the War of Liberation.

According to the book, Rajarbagh police camp and EPR camp in Pilkhana were attacked by Pakistan army on March 25, 1971. But the correct names of the two places should be Rajarbagh Police Lines and Pilkhana East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) headquarters respectively.

On page 6 of the same book, it is mentioned that Jukta Front was formed with four parties – Awami League, Krishak Sramik Party, Nezam-e-Islam and Ganatantri Party. But the successful political alliance was actually constituted with five parties. The name of Khilafat Rabbani Party is omitted in the book.

But according to legal experts, there is no private law in Bangladesh. The page 63 of the same book mentions secretaries as the administrative head of a ministry. Actually, the administrative head of the ministry is the minister.

While going through the contents of new textbooks, the Daily Sun has found that the NCTB has not corrected the mistakes it made in the last year’s textbooks.

On page 181 of ‘Bangladesher Itihas o Biswa Savyata’ book, authors mention that Pakistan military forces carried out torture, genocide and destruction throughout the country from March 26 to December 16, 1971.

But in reality, the rampage of the invading forces started from the night of March 25. This wrong information is presented in the textbook at a time when the government is trying to obtain international recognition of that night’s massacre.

Asked about the mistakes in the new textbooks, NCTB member Moshiuzzaman said, “Surely there’re mistakes. People are criticising us as they’ve identified those. But it’s not right that there’re widespread mistakes.”

The High Court on November 29 last slammed the NCTB chairman for presenting incorrect information about Bangabandhu and the Liberation War in the textbooks of classes VI-XI for the last year.

Educationists say the NCTB has not learned from its previous mistakes. According to them, had the autonomous organisation taken stern action against the authors and editors responsible for previous mistakes, there would have been no repetition.

“These mistakes are results of negligence in writing and editing books. People responsible for such important work should remain aware. Such wrong information will confuse the new generation. This will be embedded in children’s minds,” former Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique said.

He also said the government’s commendable initiative of distributing free textbooks to all students will come under question because of such irresponsible act.

The government is distributing about 34 crore textbooks at free of cost among over 4 crore students. The distribution process began on the first day of the New Year through a colourful textbook festival.