Dhaka: The Ministry of Education will celebrate Textbook Day on 1 January across the country when students of all primary schools, ibtedayi madrasas, secondary schools, dakhil madrasas, and technical education institutes will get new textbook free of cost.

The decision was taken at a meeting at the ministry conference room with Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid in the chair, a release said on Wednesday.

As per the decision, Nahid will inaugurate the day at a function at Government Laboratory High School playground at 9:00am on 1 January (Friday).

Marking the day, all primary schools, ibtedayi madrasas, secondary schools, dakhil madrasas and technical education institutes will remain open on Friday.

The present government started distributing free textbook from 2010 academic year. Last year, some 33 crore books were distributed among the students while this year the number of books is over 34 crore.