Government asked to implement Textbook Policy

Speakers at a symposium to mark World Literacy Day 2010 have enjoined government and the Ghana Education Service to help sustain the local book publishing industry through the award of contracts.

They are also calling for implementation of the 'Textbook Policy' to ensure professional publishers are engaged in the production of standard textbooks, for basic and senior high schools.

The Department of Publishing Studies at the KNUST organized the symposium to coincide with the inauguration of the Northern Sector Office of the Ghana Book Publishers' Association.

In an interview with Luv Fm, a lecturer at the Department, Dr. Kwasi Opoku Amankwaah said government needs to work with professionals on the industry to ensure published books meet challenges of modern-day learning.

“For a national programme such as textbook writing or producing textbooks, we'd urge the government to work with the publishers association. There are books in the classroom now that I have personally called that those books be moved from the classroom because they do not meet the standards”, he observed.

Dr. Opoku Amankwaah believes students can access the right reading materials when government works with professionals.

The theme for the 2010 World Literacy Day is the importance of literacy for women who want to participate fully in the life of their community and in the economy.

Literacy includes the basic skills people need to achieve their goals, to function and thrive in the modern economy. It also involves the development of individual knowledge and potential at home, at work and in the community.

Provost of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the KNUST, Prof. Dr. Dr. Daniel Buor linked sustainable national development to the cultural and environmental experience of communities.

“You have to embark upon indigenization of knowledge to pave way for development based on local experience” he opined.

He noted that the moral decay in society cannot be isolated from polluted literature. “Government must therefore come out with measures to forestall the breeding of 'negative' literature that has the potential to corrupt society.

“Pornographic literature is having a toll on the moral life of the youth and must be eliminated from the system. I urge you publishers to be very selective in your publications”, Prof. Bour stated.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh