PM launches tomorrow govt website with 106 books
The government is going to launch a website with digital versions of textbooks for primary and secondary students to give them free access to textbooks online.
At least 106 textbooks of primary and secondary levels have been converted to e-books, electronic version of textbooks, published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and uploaded on www.ebook.gov.bd with the technical assistance of Access to Information (A2I) of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to launch the website at the PMO tomorrow.
Students can log on to the website and flip through the e-books just like the printed ones. Besides, they can also download any page they want.
The e-books have options to zoom in on pages and bookmark any of those, said A2I programme officials. Anyone can download the contents for free and read those also on mobile phones, they said.
The students, who take the primary terminal and secondary examinations abroad, will benefit greatly from it as they will be able to download textbooks from the website.
In January last year, soft copies of 139 textbooks were put in PDF version on the NCTB website that drew much attention of both students and guardians at home and abroad.
But, the new website with e-books would be much easier to use, said the officials.
“We used more advanced technology in the e-books to make them more attractive,” said Afzal Hossain Sarwar, consultant (content) of A2I Programme.
He said the e-book has been created in a way that makes it easier for students to find the desired textbook.
Thirty-three books of primary level and 73 books of secondary level have been converted to e-books and uploaded on the website, he said.
Technology has brought about a drastic change in the ways people now obtain knowledge, he said.
“We have a plan to make an archive of textbooks. It will be easier to make such an archive in the e-book format,” the official said.
Old textbooks could also be made available in the archive, he said.
Sarwar said contents in multimedia formats such as video and animation would be uploaded on the website to help students understand complicated topics.
In 2010, the government for the first time distributed some 19 crore copies of textbooks for free among primary and secondary students in the first week of the academic session.
About 23.22 crore free textbooks were distributed among 3.22 crore primary and secondary students in the first week of January this year.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
