Dr. Clement Apaak, the Member of Parliament for Builsa South, has leveled criticism at the Akufo-Addo administration for its failure to provide textbooks to schools.
Dr. Apaak said that this is inappropriate since it lowers the standard of education provided at the various institutions of higher education.
His remarks come after it was reported by the state-owned Daily Graphic that a number of Municipal and District Directors of Education as well as head teachers of some basic schools in the Central Region had made an impassioned appeal to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure the supply of the full complement of textbooks to basic schools. His remarks come after the Daily Graphic reported that his comments.
The lack of textbooks, particularly in the subject areas of English Language, Core Mathematics, and Science, is having a severe impact on both the teaching and the learning that takes place in the schools, according to the Heads of the Schools.
Despite the fact that the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has stated that "We have procured enough textbooks for all subjects to go round all of the schools," it is still unclear whether or not this is indeed the case. "What is left is for the Regional Stores to ensure that every school with a shortfall receives the additional textbooks they need," Dr. Apaak said in a tweet that the government must be called out for this development. "What is left is for the Regional Stores to ensure that every school with a shortfall receives the extra textbooks they need."
Why, four years after a new curriculum was implemented, are school administrators still wailing about the lack of textbooks? In addition to this, the heads are struggling with the fact that they have not received capitation grants for the past six terms, and there is also a severe dearth of furnishings. The government of Akufo-Addo and Bawumia has to be called out for ignoring the public basic education system, according to the ranking member of the Education Committee in Parliament.