Dhaka: The National Textbook Festival will be celebrated at all primary and secondary level educational institutions on Sunday across the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday formally inaugurated the free textbook distribution programme for the academic year 2017.

The premier opened the free textbook distribution programme by handing over textbooks of primary and secondary levels to students at a function at her official Ganabhaban residence in Saturday morning.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will inaugurate the central programme of the ‘National Textbook Festival-2017’ at Azimpur Government Girls School and College in Dhaka at about 9:30 am on 1 January.

More than 5,000 students of 31 schools of the capital will join the function, said official sources.

Chairman of National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) Prof Narayan Chandra Saha earlier told BSS that the government will distribute 36,21,82,245 textbooks for free of cost among the primary and secondary level students in academic year 2017.

‘The free textbooks will be distributed among 4,26,35,929 pre-primary, primary, secondary, ibtedayi, dakhil, dakhil vocational, SSC vocational, small anthropological group and visually challenged students across the country,’ he said.

Education ministry officials said 333,762,772 textbooks were distributed among 4,44,16,728 students of pre-primary, primary, ebtedayee, secondary,dhakhil and technical students for the 2016 academic year.

They said of the total number of books, 65,77,154 were distributed among 33,73,373 pre-primary students while 10,87,19,99 textbooks of 33 subjects were distributed among 2,45,71,731 students of Bangla and English version at primary level.

The education sources said 1,92,55,615 textbooks of 36 subjects were distributed among 27,03,984 ebtedayee students, 16,30,04,373 textbooks

distributed among 1,12,36,018 students of Bangla and English version at secondary level, 22,71,836 textbooks among 1,87,153 SSC vocational students and 3,39,33,797 textbooks distributed among dakhil and dakhil vocational students.