Absence of textbooks in basic schools worrying

The delivery of quality education, among others, hinges on the availability of relevant learning materials, including textbooks.

Recently, many parents and schools have expressed concern about the unavailability of approved textbooks and for which reason some have been lured into purchasing unapproved textbooks for teaching and learning.

On Monday November 4, 2019, the Daily Graphic carried a story in which it mentioned the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), developers of curricula in the country, stating that it had not yet approved any reading materials or textbooks for use in the classroom in line with the new curriculum.

The story was in response to concerns that some publishers were selling textbooks and other supplementary learning materials to schools and the general public, purported to have been approved by NaCCA for the new Standards-Based Curriculum (KG-B6).

It went further to caution all heads of schools, parents and the general public that NaCCA had not yet approved any textbook for the new curriculum.

The Daily Graphic also notes that the Ghana Education Service (GES) has also added its voice to that of NaCCA and directed regional and district directors of education and heads of schools, as well as all staff of the service to ensure that no such unauthorised or unapproved textbook is used in any school without the authorisation of the Director-General.

We find the situation worrying and will like to urge the GES, NaCCA and, indeed, management of education in the country to quickly fashion ways to address the issue of textbooks for schools, especially when the curriculum is reviewed.

We do find the development where unapproved textbooks are being used in some schools inappropriate for effective teaching and learning and wish to task the NaCCA and the GES to stamp their authority by ensuring that no such materials are used in any classroom or as supplementary reading materials.

It is not the case that publishers and writers of such textbooks are not unaware that before they can circulate their publications to the schools for use, such textbooks and other supplementary materials must be assessed and approved by NaCCA in accordance with the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778).

The Daily Graphic considers the alert by NaCCA, though pretty late in the day, appropriate as many more parents and schools would have been lured into purchasing such textbooks.

For us at the Daily Graphic, we wish to urge publishers and writers to be circumspect and not to exploit the desperate situation of parents and schools by selling such unapproved textbooks and other supplementary materials.

We further wish to encourage teachers to stick to the resource packs supplied to them and use them as a guide for effective teaching and learning until they receive the approved textbooks; after all, the resource pack covers basically all the areas they need to cover in the classroom.

Unfortunately, the practice over the years has always been that after the development of the curriculum, NaCCA has to wait until publishers, who are private business people, express the interest to tender in their material for assessment.

And so, if it takes the publishers ‘’donkey years’’ to submit their material for consideration, the schools will have to go on without the textbook, a development we think is unacceptable and must be addressed immediately.

For instance, in 1987, 2001, 2007 and 2010 when we had a curriculum review, we had to wait for four years before the approved textbooks were made available.

Thankfully, however, in all those instances, it was just the old textbooks which were brought back because the review was minor.

The exception this year, however, is the availability of the resource pack for teachers to use as a guide to teach while waiting for the textbooks, the first of its kind.

The 2019 curriculum review is a complete departure from what was in place and the Daily Graphic urges the NaCCA and management of education in the country to quicken the process of approving the relevant textbooks to address the problem, especially when the curriculum is reviewed.