Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, has called on appropriate bodies working on the new educational curriculum textbooks to fast track the process to enable teachers and learners get access to them.
Also in his capacity as a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, the MP indicated that the delay has become burdensome as pupils in the public schools, who are mostly from low income families, have the rippling effect of this delay compared to their counterparts in the private schools.
The minister, speaking on the issue said, "I think that textbooks are essential components when it comes to teaching and learning and when new curriculum is developed we should have their accompanying textbooks. That's very important. But it goes through a process and we think that the process should end as soon as possible so that the public schools will get delivery of the copies for the learners to have a reading material to understand better what they are taught in schools."
"We know that the government has activated the process but the process must consumate soon for us to get the books...for the vulnerable from low income families to get access so that they can also learn after they receive instructions from their teachers," Dr. Kingsley Nyarko explained in an interview with GhanaWeb after Star Ghana Foundation facilitated meeting for the PSC-E and stakeholders in Koforidua.
In September 2019, government of Ghana rolled out a new curriculum into the educational system aimed at addressing shortcomings in the old curriculum.
The new curriculum was purposely made to improve the acquisition of reading, writing, arithmetic and creative skills as well as strengthen the teaching of mathematics across the entire primary curriculum.
However, it has been three years since the rollout of the new curriculum without the requisite learning materials including textbooks to aid teaching and learning at the basic schools.
The Ministry of Education and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA) are the entities mandated to work on the learning materials for the new curriculum.
When GhanaWeb approached the Director-General for the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA), Dr. Edward Appiah, he said his outfit had completed its works on the new curriculum textbooks.
Dr. Appiah indicated that the delay in bringing out the textbooks is not from the NaCCA since they had, for the past two years, finished their assessment and submitted the over 1,200 assessed books to the Ministry of Education.
He told GhanaWeb, "NaCCA, our mandate is to help develop textbooks. We develop the curriculum and the publishers write the books and we will assess the books and approve them."
"As I speak with you, NaCCA has approved over 1,200 books. Over the past two years we have approved the books.
"Now, after we have approved the books, the Ministry will also have to take it to another level and award contract. And before they do that they have to go through some activities.
"As I speak to you now, they've gone through a lot. Most of the things that they need to do, they've done it. I think it's at the procurement level now," he explained.
The NaCCA Director-General further explained that the seeming delay from the Ministry of Education is because it is doing "some quality assurance and to select various publishers that they deem fit to work on (the books)".
"It is not the Ministry that is delaying the thing. They also have to make sure that they do the needful. Because it will not come out and people will have issues" he clarified.
Meanwhile, Dr. Appiah sent a stern warning to publishers who print books into the market without required approval from NaCCA.
