There is a customs created among the Primary and Secondary students to follow guide book rather than following main books. Government has taken different steps in different times to stop following guide books. One of the Top Bangladeshi Dailies reported that, Guidebooks for primary and secondary students are still on sale throughout the country, a year after the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict declaring their printing, distribution and sale illegal.
On 9 December, 2009, the day the Supreme Court gave its ruling, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid told New Age that the government would launch a drive against those involved in printing and distributing guidebooks.
‘Guidebooks hamper the creativity of students and cause financial losses to guardians. As their printers, publishers and distributors have lost the court battle, there is no legal bar to taking action against them,’ he said. ‘We will launch a relentless drive against printers of guidebooks and notebooks.’
Despite these strong words, there appears to have been no effective action last year, other than a few operations by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board.
‘When the verdict was delivered, we thought that we would not be able to sell guidebooks, but we have not found any difficulty in selling them,’ a bookshop owner in Banglabazar told New Age.
‘The guidebooks for primary classes were not available in the market earlier, but now they are on sale everywhere,’ said another bookshop owner
A visit to Banglabazar revealed that almost all the bookshops were openly selling guidebooks.
Guidebooks of Classes II and III were available at Shikkhangon Library in Banglabazar. And the Pangery Somaponi guide was available at Hridoy Book House.
Guidebooks are being sold across the city. On Monday, Pangery Somaponi guide for Class V students was available for Tk 220 at Tofazzal Book Shop in the Farm Gate.
‘Are guidebooks illegal?’ asked a parent who came to Banglabazar to buy one. ‘If so, how is an illegal item being sold so openly?’
Source: TNA