Local printing of textbooks must succeed

Education is key to the development of any society and that is why our governments spend huge resources to provide facilities for quality education for our youth.

There are certain critical ingredients or drivers for quality education. These include good classroom blocks, highly motivated teachers and books to facilitate quality teaching and learning.

During the immediate post-independence Ghana, basic and secondary schools were provided with good classrooms and teaching/learning materials.

Along the journey into statehood, the economy dipped and that affected all facets of our national life, including the educational sector.

Therefore, last year when President John Mahama, in his State of the Nation Address, indicated that all textbooks were to be printed locally, the local printing industry which appeared dead jubilated.

True to his word, efforts have been initiated by the Ministry of Education to bring that dream into fruition.

In the past, the government committed to the printing of 20 per cent of all government textbooks locally, by which arrangement local production would have contributed some $60 million to boost the revenue of local printers.

Be that as it may, it so happened that for 2014, only three per cent of government textbooks, amounting to less than $2 million, were printed locally.

This development brought some understandable disappointment to local printers, who felt that the government had reneged on its promise.

Gladly, the government, in response to the concerns raised by the local printers, has decided to make good its promise with the announcement that all government textbooks, apart from dictionaries and vocational/technical textbooks, are to be printed locally.

Indeed, the Daily Graphic sees the latest move as very welcoming news that will not only ensure the retention of foreign currency that would be expanded by printing textbooks outside the country but also boost the revenue capacity of local printing companies and give them the opportunity to make proper use of the technology they invested in.

The Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Tuesday paid a working visit to some of the companies that have been selected for the job.

In his own words, he was amazed at the level of technology deployment by those companies and the fact that they were currently operating at 40 per cent capacity.

The idea being a novelty, the Daily Graphic believes that, it poses a challenge to our local industries, but we expect them to deliver in a manner that will make the sceptics believe in the capabilities of Ghanaian industries.

However, we also implore the government to, even in the event of challenges in the first outcome of the printers, be patient and point out where they might have gone wrong.

In so doing, we will be empowering our local industries to become not only self-sustaining but also ready for higher standards as pertain on the international scene.

Ghana has the capacity to be self-reliant and the first step towards that is ensuring that we produce what we consume and export the excess.

The decision to give the printing of textbooks to local printers is a step in the right direction and we expect more of these from the government to revive the manufacturing sector.