Professor Kwesi Opoku Amankwa, Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has described as unfortunate the release of the controversial textbook on the market.
His comment comes as a result of the books that have not been officially assessed, approved and recommended by NaCCA for use on the market.
“National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) has the mandate to ensure that any material that goes into the classroom especially for pre-tertiary goes through a process. That is approval, assessment then finally it will be recommended for use.”
Professor Amankwa
Challenges In Tracking Approved Textbooks
Professor Amankwa also intimated that challenges with regulating textbooks on the market are because anybody can put out a book regardless of they being publishers or not.
“Once you can write a material, you can write anything and put it out there. That’s why the regulation states that, for books to go into the classroom, it has to go through a process. The GES has schools across the country, which are public schools, pre-tertiary schools whose books can be regulated. Unfortunately, I can’t vouch for private schools because of their individualist nature.”
Professor Amankwa
Touching on textbooks approval in the country, Professor Amankwa noted there are some textbooks that haven’t been approvedl. He averred that publishers take advantage of the open market system to channel such text books.
Capping Down Unapproved Publication Difficult
Moreover, he noted that, putting out a reading material to the open market will be difficult to restrict. However, it can be regulated if it’s being taken to the classroom. He also said any book published must meet the curriculum the country runs. He therefore urged NaCCA to make it public.
“When you go on to their website now, all the books that have been approved has been posted there. They should go beyond publishing on the website and publish in newspapers, on radio, television.”
Professor Amankwa
He also suggested NaCCA to give out guidelines of what to look for in a book.
This, he said, will inform the general public as to what to lookout for in a book to truly know if it has been assessed and recommended.
Considering if there should be limitations placed on the number of books that are approved by NaCCA, he disagreed and declined to any limitations.
“We don’t want to restrict people’s minds as to what they have to read.”
Professor Amankwa
Furthermore, he iterated the fact that public education on the right books must be prioritized. He indicated parents do not necessarily have to do the checking since school authorities can do so.
NaCCA and Volta Chief’s Reaction
On the issue of unapproved text books, NaCCA has ordered the withdrawal of all from both public and private schools in the country.
Furthermore, Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, has described the contents of a book designed for use by lower primary pupils as offensive. He noted that some of the contents of the said book cast derogatory allusions and innuendos at Ewes.
Togbe Hodo in a release said the contents were distasteful and a disgrace to the authors and publishers of the said material intended to educate the younger generations of the country. textbook textbook
