Education Ministry ceases to be publisher, distributor

The Ministry of Education has ceased to be publisher and distributor of its own school textbooks in consonance with the policy of the government to make the private sector the engine of growth. The policy would be the ministry's blueprint for streamlining the procurement of textbooks and accompanying guides and manuals for the basic schools, deputy Education Minister, Rashid Bawa said.

"The textbook policy with its operational annexes is now ready and will be presented to Cabinet for study prior to its submission to Parliament for approval.

He was speaking at the 25th Ghana Book Awards ceremony organised by Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC) in Accra.

"It is my fervent hope that professionals of the Ghanaian book industry will avail themselves of the opportunity that the textbook project will offer," he said.

Mr. Bawa recommended to them the idea of pooling their resources or forming consortiums, considering the huge capital outlay involved in the project. "We are looking forward to the day when the book industry in Ghana will be an important income earner for the nation as obtains in the advanced countries," he said adding that this objective could only be realised if the industry was rid of nefarious activities of pirates.

The annual award, sponsored by Afram Publications, Buck Press, Compuprint, EPP Books Services, Minerva Books and Stationary Supplies and Unimax Macmillan, was to honour deserving members of the industry for their contributions.

"As soon as Parliamentary approval is given, the way will be clear for the Ministry to source funding of about 70 million dollars, for a major textbook production and procurement programme by the Ministry," Bawa also MP said.

The new policy would be implemented in collaboration with publishers, as producers of the textbooks on the one hand and the Ministry as the purchasers.

The Deputy Minister commended the GBDC for spearheading the production of the Textbook Development and Distribution Policy. The deputy minister said pirates of intellectual property were not faceless entities but human beings who chose this orthodox way of making money at the expense of their hard working victims whose sweat and toil resulted in the products they stole.

He gave the assurance that the ministry would assist the council's task force formed under the umbrella of the Copyright Administration to combat books and software piracy in the country and across the borders.

Mr. Bawa said members of the public and school authorities should ascertain how genuine books or software they buy are, adding "if we do not fight this evil together, we risk not having in future such memorable occasions because writers and publishers could be so discouraged that book development will no longer be a worthwhile venture".

"Let us therefore support our worthy authors, publishers and other practitioners of the book trade by helping them remain in business so that we can have more personalities to honour in future."

Mr. Bawa gave the assurance that the ministry was committed to assisting its satellite agencies - the Ghana Library Board, Encyclopedia Afrikana, Ghana Book Development Council among others, to improve upon their performance delivery.

Meanwhile, the government is critically examining the Junior Secondary (JSS) and Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) system and the current standard and the possibility of increasing the number of years to be spent at the Senior Secondary Schools.

This was made known by President John Kufuor, when he addressed the 53rd Special Speech and Prize-Giving Day of Prempeh College held in his honour in Kumasi at the weekend.

It formed part of his two-day visit to Kumasi during which he attended the special congregation held by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to honour the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11.

Kufuor said the objective of the critical examination of the JSS and SSS system was firstly to ensure that the youth did not leave school prematurely and secondly to ensure that those who did not pursue tertiary education would be matured enough to enter gainful employment and face the responsibilities of social life when they left school.

The third factor, President Kufuor said, was that, those who pursued tertiary education would be equitably qualified for this and that the state and society should try to avail the youth of ready admission when they left school.

President Kufuor said, in support of the examination of the school system with the view to improving upon it, therefore, government will make nursery schools an integral part of the primary school system.

On school management, the President said the country cannot hope to develop unless there was modernization, pointing out that that was why he preached Information Technology (IT) all over again.

"We cannot talk about modernising and improving the running of our schools if we neglect the qualities of those who run these institutions." "Gone are the days when simply being a good teacher was enough to qualify you to be a headmaster", Kufuor said.

These schools, he said, were smaller and the available resources were comparatively better and one could therefore, afford the enviable amateur school headmaster.

"Today we need a real manager, well-trained and well-versed in modern methods of management, financial control facilities and administration to occupy the leaderships of our institutions."

President Kufuor said fund-raising skills should be seen as an integral art and an obligatory requirement for all heads of educational institutions. He, however, called for transparency and accountability in the management of such resources just like they would manage government resources and said to do this required knowledge in management.

He made a donation of 30 million cedis to the school towards the rehabilitation of some of its structures including the administration block and old classrooms in which he was taught as a student.

Education Minister, Professsor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, also said that under the directives of the President, the Ministry was going to take a survey of all 474 Second Cycle institutions in the country with the view to elevating one school in each district to status of the well-endowed schools.

The Ministry says it was also going to take a look at Information Technology (IT) in schools and the introduction of Open Universities as part of enhancing education.