Textbooks For New Curriculum Still Not Ready

The Ghana Book Publishers Association says textbooks developed based on the new curriculum, will not be available in schools when the new academic year commences next week.

President of the Book Publishers Association, Eliot Agyare, says his members are currently developing the books to submit to the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NACA) for evaluation.

The delay, he says, will impact negatively on academic work.

“The policy paper 23 makes a very strong case that every child needs a textbook. Secondly, from all the researches that we have come across, it says that next to an engaged and prepared teacher is a good and well-designed textbook. This is not contested.

“The textbook is the student’s best friend. When they go home that is what they engage in,” he told Joy News.

The new education curriculum was launched by GES in April this year as part of ongoing reforms in the sector.

Speaking in glowing terms of the new curriculum for primary schools, the Director-General of the Service, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said the reform is in line with international best practice, which requires a review every five years.

“A key feature of the new curriculum is the introduction of a national assessment examination at classes two, four and six,” he said

This will replace the status quo where students are assessed nationally during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The existing curriculum has been faulted for its great emphasis on preparing learners just to pass examinations rather than to actually acquire knowledge.

“Other challenges in the existing curriculum include content overload and an inability of the assessment system, without sufficient data, to help fashion out improvement in teaching and learning.

“Indeed the current landscape in terms of learning outcomes is not encouraging,” Opoku Amankwa told the press.

But the Book Publishers Association believes that given the critical role textbooks play, it should have been considered the same time the policy was going to be implemented.

“Unfortunately in our planning, the textbooks were not going to be in place at the same time as implementing the policy,” Eliot Agyare stated.

According to him, everything must, therefore, be done to ensure that the books get to the schools as soon as possible.

---myjoyonline