Deputy Education Minister, Ntim Fordjour, has condemned the content of the controversial history textbook published by Excellence Publications, which denigrated Christianity in Ghana.

According to him, the content of the book is misguided and does not reflect the principles and impact of Christianity. He indicated that Ghana is most peaceful for a reason, and the important place of religion cannot be undermined.

“I condemn entirely the rather obnoxious content found in a textbook published by `Excellence Publications’ and smuggled into the market for unsuspecting learners. The content is appalling and misconceived. I support NaCCA’s swift action to recall the books and apply sanctions.”
Ntim Fordjour

The textbook, titled “History of Ghana for Basic Schools – Learners’ Book Four”, painted Christendom in a negative light. This invariably infuriated many people in Ghana, as many took to social media to condemn the textbook.

Following this, the Publishers were later instructed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) to immediately recall the textbook from the market.

In its statement, NaCCA explained that the content in the published book does not accurately reflect the approved curriculum.

Parts of the circulating textbook falsely state that Christianity is responsible for poverty and that religion has incited physical conflicts in Ghana and worldwide.

The textbook also claimed that religion makes people lackadaisical in their attitude toward finding practical ways to improve their undesirable living conditions.

NaCCA cannot vouch for authors of history book

Meanwhile, the Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) Professor Edward Appiah, has revealed that his outfit cannot vouch for the authors of the controversial textbook that denigrated Christianity.

Professor Appiah indicated that the controversial content was not present in the original 2019 publication of the textbook.

“We can’t vouch for the credibility or authenticity of the author, but our checklist is such that if they are not credible it will take you off. Publishers will normally contract writers, they will even contract university lecturers to write for them, and they are just publishers.
“There are some people who also write books and sell them to publishers and the publishers can be anybody so far as you can establish a publishing company. But our rubric and our checklist will indicate who is writing and their level and all that.”
Professor Edward Appiah

Prior to this, Programmes Manager of Education Watch, Divine Kpeh, noted that some of the claims in the book are inaccurate. He revealed that the accuracy of content is one of the criteria considered when approving books, as such, he was worried that the book was approved by the NaCCA.

Mr Kpeh indicated that contrary to the claim that religion is a major cause of physical conflict and doctrinal dispute, Ghana is touted as one of the most peaceful countries due to religion. He explained that the claim that religion has a direct link with poverty is also not factual.

On his part, the Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies, Dr Peter Anti, lamented that those responsible for the review of the book, especially the chapter in which the claims were made did not do a thorough job. He stated that although the title of the chapter said ‘Negative effects of Christian missionaries’, the argument moved towards religion in general.

This, he noted, speaks of a lack of understanding on the part of both the authors and the reviewers.

Furthermore, Dr Anti expressed worry about the targeted level of the book. He argued that pupils of primary four do not have the cognitive ability to discuss the topic. Hence it would have been prudent if the target level was the Junior or Senior High School.