Say speakers stressing the need for an overhaul of the education system

The National Curriculum and Textbook Board has been stuck in the loop of controversies centring on school textbooks with academics and some NCTB officials blaming it on the negligence of writers and editors, insufficient training and lack of serious punishment for blunders.

The important issue that must be discussed is whether school education should continue to be another commodity subject to the vagaries of the market.

In Bangladesh, although primary education is free and the government provides the textbooks, more than 4.3 million children aged 6-15 years are not in school.