The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has moved to correct a mistake in the Class Six information and communication technology (ICT) textbook for the 2027 school year, which used “daripalla”, a pair of scales and a political party’s election symbol, to stand for wisdom. It has decided to recall the 2 to 3 million copies already sent to districts and upazilas and reprint them with a picture of a human brain in place of the scales. The extra cost to the government is estimated at about Tk 17 crore. Printing each textbook currently costs Tk 57.
The NCTB is changing a single scales symbol in an entire book. Yet the primary Bangla books are full of boats, and another book carries a sheaf of paddy. The NCTB has not said whether those will be changed. The boat is the Awami League’s election symbol and the sheaf of paddy the BNP’s.
An order to stop printing the Class Six book was given on Thursday night. At an online meeting the next day, Friday, the final decision was taken to bring the books back and correct them. The NCTB has set a target of getting the corrected books to schools by 30 November.
The “Data and information” chapter of the Class Six ICT book shows the four levels of the knowledge pyramid: data, information, knowledge and wisdom. The first level uses a circular symbol, the second an image like an atom or a network, the third a brain, and the top level, wisdom, a picture of scales. The scales were in the 2025 book, but the 2026 edition replaced them with a brain. The new 2027 design brought the old picture back. The NCTB says the old 2025 design was added again by mistake.
The use of a party’s registered election symbol in a textbook has raised serious questions about the neutrality of the textbook process. Educationists say it cannot be treated as a simple mistake. Using such symbols in textbooks may be an attempt to impose a particular ideology on pupils, which badly damages the objectivity and neutrality of education, they say, and they have called for an independent inquiry to establish what happened.
According to NCTB sources, about 3.8 million copies of the Class Six ICT book were planned for the 2027 school year. Printing of about 2 to 3 million of them is finished and they have reached districts and upazilas. In all, about 310 million books are being printed for next year across all classes.
A member of the NCTB, speaking on condition of anonymity, said bringing back, correcting and reprinting books already in the field means a large financial loss, while the government has promised to get books to every pupil by the end of this year. Getting the corrected books to pupils on time is now the NCTB’s biggest challenge.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report