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Africa Education Watch: Probe leakage of controversial “History of Ghana” textbooks

Africa Education Watch calls on national security to unravel how unapproved textbooks with offensive content flooded the market in commercial quantities

Africa Education Watch, the education policy research and advocacy organisation, wants national security to probe circumstances leading to how three unapproved textbooks on the history of Ghana flooded the market in commercial quantities.

The National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA) has said in a statement that the textbooks which have attracted outright public condemnation should be withdrawn from the market because only one was brought to it for review.

The books are: History of Ghana Textbook 3 by Badu Nkansah Publications, History of Ghana for Basic 6 and Golden English Basic 4 by Golden Publications.

“With the book that you are talking about, it is only the History of Ghana, Textbook 3 by Badu Nkansah Publications, which is currently under review. The other two books have not even reached the doors of NaCCA,” NaCCA boss John Mensah Anang said on The Asaase Breakfast Show.

He added: “What the publishers of Ghana have been doing is that they publish the book and on the blindside of NaCCA they go into the system, they meet with proprietors and headmistress mostly the private schools and then they start selling their books over there, that is the challenge we are facing now.”

In a statement, Africa Education Watch said regulatory agencies must work to ensure that only approved textbooks are on the market.

The executive director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, called on government to fast-track processes towards the passage of the Ghana Book Development Bill to help sanitise the sector.

“While we acknowledge that NaCCA is working hard to ensure only NaCCA approved textbooks are used in schools, the challenge of regulating published content that finds its way into the open market is beyond NaCCA,” the statement said.

“We call for further investigations by national security to ascertain how samples of books submitted to NaCCA by the publishers and queried by same in September 2020 found their way in commercial quantities unto the Ghanaian market in 2021.”

Below is the full statement:

Vigilance of public

NaCCA has since commended the public for their vigilance in ensuring such unapproved books are brought to fore for public scrutiny.

“So now that we are cracking the whip based on the issues coming up and we are so proud of the Ghanaian that they are now up to the task. That this time they do not kowtow to anything that come out, people are able to go through, assess and authenticate and draw our attention, the public is now helping us and we now appreciate it.”

He further revealed that the publishers have since apologised to NaCCA.

Fred Dzakpata

Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online.
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#asaaseradio  #TVO

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