Textbook Festival Day in Dhaka

Nearly 44 million schoolchildren in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 1st January 2018 celebrated the Textbook Festival receiving books free of cost for their new classes on the first day of the New Year joining the festivity at schools and madrasas across the country.Education ministry officials said 35,42,90,162 textbooks were distributed among 4,37,06,895 students of pre-primary, primary, ebtedayee, secondary, dakhil and technical students for the 2018 academic year as the schools and the other equivalent educational institutions staged ceremonies at their compounds to hand them over the newly printed books."This (festival) is the outcome of our (government's) sincere commitment to reach the books on the first day of the year," Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said joining one of the major ceremonies held at Azimpur Govt Girls High School and College in Dhaka. (Photo by Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images)