Textbook For Basic School: Basic schools turn to unapproved textbooks as the govt delays supply
The Big Stories || Textbook For Basic School: Basic schools turn to unapproved textbooks as government delays supply - JoyNews
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00:00 The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NACA, has begun a thorough assessment and scrutiny
00:06 of the proposed textbooks for basic schools in the country. Director-General of NACA,
00:11 Professor Edward Appiah, who led a team to visit some of the schools in Accra, revealed that
00:16 some of the teachers were resorting to unapproved textbooks and were relying on sole authors.
00:22 Of course, there was one or two teachers who were using some books which were not approved,
00:28 but it was for the teachers. They said that they are using it to help in their preparatory,
00:32 which is fine. And so we encourage people, teachers, even parents, to make sure that
00:39 the books that are being used, they check to see whether surely it has been approved or not.
00:46 The ones that they are not in, and as I just indicated, you know the minister has
00:53 tasked NACA to get the data for every school, especially now that we are doing NST, we've been
00:59 doing P6, we've been doing DHS. We need to have the data so that it can be used to do the
01:04 distribution because it's sad when the materials have been procured, the textbooks have been
01:10 procured, yet the schools think that they don't have them. And the minister is worried and he has
01:15 tasked, even if it's an adult task, but we'll make sure that we get the data so that the supplies
01:20 will go directly to the schools and we'll cut short these issues of we don't have them,
01:25 even though it's been supplied. Her teacher of the Manchette Taki I Primary School, Belinda
01:30 Dede Sefako, indicated that even though the government has supplied some of the textbooks,
01:36 the ones available are not enough and this is affecting the students.
01:40 In a way I would say yes, because the children needed to, at least when they see
01:49 pictures of things, it will help them. When they see the pictures and they are able to read too,
01:56 it helps them. The teachers jotted down a few points for them but if they have their books,
02:01 it will help them. Their curriculum started in 2019. It was simple. Yes, we've had this challenge,
02:08 but they've solved it to a point so, by providing some of their books for us last year. The other
02:15 three have not been provided. Professor Edward Apia revealed some measures which are underway
02:22 to ensure unapproved textbooks are off school and bookshops. My team is working on them. In the
02:28 next set of books that are coming, that is what we are going to do. One of the things that we are
02:32 even trying to do is to avoid sole authors, sole authorship. We think that for the textbooks to
02:40 be enriched, you need to have more than two or three authors. So you have an RMU, then just one
02:46 person has authored it. I don't think that it helps in that. So the new things that are coming
02:53 up, the board have approved that henceforth books that are going to be approved or published,
03:00 they are supposed to be authored by two, three, apart from other contributors. So even though
03:09 you're going to have about three authors, you also have other contributors going through and
03:14 all these will have to appear in their book for us to verify how the book is. This exercise is
03:22 expected to continue in the upcoming days to ensure various basic schools in Ghana
03:27 have the approved textbooks. For JOIN News, Jacqueline Ansuma-Iyabua.
03:33 [Music]
03:45 [Music]
04:03 [Music]
04:19 All right, so welcome to the AM Show. Let's talk about education because the National Council for
04:25 Curriculum and Assessment says it has discovered that some basic schools are resorting to unapproved
04:31 test books, I mean as you heard in the report there, due to government's failure to supply the
04:37 test books on time. Some teachers even say they use the resource pack and go on to Google to get
04:45 information to teach these children. How do we deal with the issues? I've been joined on this
04:52 segment by Honorable Peter Nkchu, he is ranking on the Education Committee of Parliament and also
04:59 Dr. Isaac Osu, he is the NAT President. Gentlemen, good morning and thanks for joining us.
05:04 Great. Let me start with you, Dr. Osu. I mean, why have we still
05:14 looked on for this to persist when the new curriculum came in in operation more than a year ago?
05:21 Thank you for having me this morning and a very good morning to your service as US.
05:30 I think with the issue of the new curriculum and its related matters has not helped all of us.
05:38 You see, in 2019, when GES started implementation of the new curriculum at the KG and the primary
05:49 level, the GES trained about 108,000 teachers within a week. And the assurance was that we are
06:01 doing away with the old curricula together with each old textbook. So we should discard
06:09 all the old curriculum with the old textbooks. With the view that as soon as the teacher gets
06:17 the new, a copy of the new curriculum, it comes with its own textbook approved by NACA and supplied
06:24 by the Ministry of Education through GES. And since 2019, the schools have received five textbooks
06:34 out of the eight subjects that they are doing under the new curriculum. And the teachers,
06:42 I would say that we have to recommend our teachers. Because if you look at how responsible
06:50 the teachers have become, they themselves go online to do their own research without anybody
06:58 giving them a motivational support, doing everything possible to get material to teach
07:06 the children to understand the new curriculum. So that is the situation we are in.
07:12 I'm just hearing this morning that it extends to the junior high schools.
07:17 The junior high schools, we are even yet to have the training.
07:25 And not only the junior high school, it also extends to the secondary school.
07:31 By the secondary school curriculum, the presentation is underway.
07:35 The key stakeholders are being given the relevant documents to make their input.
07:41 But the junior high school, we are even yet to have the training.
07:44 So we have a new curriculum for junior high schools, but teachers have not been trained,
07:53 you mean? Exactly. How long have we had this at the junior high school?
07:58 No, the implementation has not even started. Oh, okay.
08:03 The implementation of the new curriculum at the junior high school has not even started.
08:08 Okay, so the junior high school is still using the old curriculum, right?
08:12 Exactly. Okay.
08:14 So if you complain to government, what has been their reaction? Because if we started in 2019 to
08:24 2023, that's more than three years, it's getting to four years now.
08:27 Maybe the ministry will be in a better position to tell us what has actually gone wrong.
08:37 Because you know, since 2019, at the union, we've been advocating and growing the attention of the
08:43 ministry. Together with the junior high school, the church will play a very pivotal role in the
08:49 teaching of the church. Because that is the reference material that the church will take on.
08:53 And even last weekend, the ministry has shown all of us that they are giving the public
09:06 a hundred and forty, one hundred and fifty to finish the publication of all the teachings.
09:12 And so we have to say that today, we have not had the full complement of the church in our school.
09:19 Wow. So you are in it, we may probably not be there. Let us understand how exactly this is
09:32 impacting on teaching and learning at a basic level.
09:37 Yes. If you listen to the CEO of NACA yesterday, they said they went around something
09:45 and claiming, alleging that some of the teachers were using unapproved teaching.
09:54 So, if NACA, the ministry of education, at work within their own timeline,
10:02 who would have thought that NACA would go to a place and claim that, or allege that,
10:07 they saw teachers using some unapproved teaching? When you came above me,
10:12 certainly somebody will sue me for you.
10:22 So, which means of course then that we are not even assured of the quality of learning
10:29 the kids are doing. The teachers are doing their best, but when the kids have to read,
10:34 they don't have any books.
10:35 If you look at the schools in the hinterland, some of these children, their kids, their parents
10:47 are not even having any social abilities that will enable them to study on their own.
10:56 The only source of reference that is used is the school. So, if you travel to maybe the
11:02 Akashi West, where we have about 46 islands, schools, and out of the 46 schools, only 21
11:16 islands are accepted. Where are these children going to get internet and whatever, or are the
11:23 teachers going to get internet access, access internet, to go online to research?
11:27 Well, let me bring in Peter Ngochu here. He is ranking on the education committee,
11:35 is a person who is very interested about education. Chief, grateful that you could join us here.
11:42 You've had the Nats precedent there, and it's quite disturbing that even at the junior high
11:49 school, training has not been done at all on the new curriculum for teachers. What is the education
11:57 committee of parliament doing about all of these things? Because I'm sure you're aware.
12:00 Yeah, thank you very much and good morning once again. We all believe and agree that education
12:11 has a dynamic dimension and that from time to time, there's a need to review the curriculum
12:19 at all levels. So, four years ago, when the minister of education decided to
12:26 introduce a new curriculum, we all agreed that it was necessary, looking at the technological
12:36 changes that are taking place in education and other sectors all over the world. So,
12:42 Ghana should be left behind. For four years or more, after the introduction of the new curriculum
12:52 for British schools, we realized that the government was not able to provide a nursing
12:59 test to support the various subjects that are to be handled under the new curriculum.
13:06 So, as a committee, especially the minority, we were always teaching government about this, that
13:13 you cannot develop a curriculum and for four years, there will be no test. They answered that
13:20 they had provided a resource pack to the teachers. Then, as the last speaker said,
13:30 how many communities are having electricity? So, those in the rural areas and the island areas,
13:39 communities, as the last speaker said, how would they get electricity? To probably charge the
13:46 batteries of their parks and all those things. And then be able to teach. In any case, you
13:54 may need a chance to support whatever you have in the resource pack. And they said the teachers
14:02 were doing their best. Yes, we know they were doing their best, but we fought support. So,
14:07 we continued to ask government until last year, when they said the chance was to be
14:16 ready for the commencement or before the commencement of the last academic year.
14:21 We monitored them. So, at the time, they took us around the publishing houses to show us the
14:29 progress they were making. We thought it was going to be enough. But later, we realized that
14:36 it was just about a third of the requirements of the school needed. So, only a few schools
14:46 had a supply. So, the target has not been reached or attained. And that's where we are now. It's
14:55 about five pupils to one textbook. So, you realize that the target that we reached in 2016 of three
15:05 is to one, with the mind that within the next three or four years, it will be one is to one
15:14 supply of textbooks. We have not been able to achieve. We are not that little great.
15:18 And what is even more interesting is that the National Education has not been able to pay
15:26 fully to the publishers and the printers of the textbooks that were printed last year.
15:33 And they have been calling on the committee to put pressure on government to pay them.
15:41 So, about six months ago, they paid them something with the balance still left. So,
15:46 the Ministry of Education cannot have that moral courage again to ask or request the publishers
15:53 to print more textbooks. So, it means that there have been some textbooks. Where did
16:01 these textbooks go? Because when we monitored the distribution, we saw that it went to almost every
16:09 district. But the quantity was nothing to write home about. Because it did not meet the needs of
16:17 the schools. So, if a school had only ten copies of a English language textbook for a particular
16:28 class, how are they going to use it? And some of the course subjects, some could see me in a crack,
16:33 did not receive it. So, you realize that the distribution was defective. And even the
16:41 quantity was rather inadequate, woefully inadequate. And the printers and the publishers
16:49 are not ready to do any work again on credit for the Ministry of Education. Because according to
16:54 them, they borrowed money from financial institutions to pay interest and to author
16:59 on a dollar rate. And you realize that they have run at a loss. So, the government must make sure
17:10 that payment is made to the suppliers or the printers so that we can get the right number
17:20 of textbooks for students in our busy schools. That's why when recently they mentioned that
17:28 this was the last BSE, I told them it was not true. Because the new curriculum has not taken
17:35 effect even in the junior high school. So, how come it is the last one? Because they are operating
17:41 over the curriculum. So, there was no way they were going to say that there will be no BSE
17:49 next year. What evidence are there to show that teachers are implementing the new curriculum at
17:55 the junior high school level? There is no evidence. There are no textbooks able to support
17:59 the new curriculum that is to be handled at the junior high school.
18:04 So, what has the Education Ministry been telling you in terms of timelines? Because we started
18:15 implementing this in 2019. We are in 2023 and we are still grappling with the issue of no textbooks.
18:22 Now, a publication that was done by KNUSD, Achieving Quality Education in Ghana,
18:28 the introduction says, "One of the major stumbling blocks in the delivery of quality education in the
18:33 country is that of shortage of textbooks. Since textbooks and instructional materials have direct
18:39 impact on what is taught in schools and how it is taught, the government, you know, a time ago
18:44 decided that it would introduce the free supply of textbooks. So, it means that without textbooks,
18:50 we are then impacting negatively on the quality of education. So, what timelines has the Ministry
18:57 given to you, the committee, as in how it was going to supply textbooks to these schools?
19:02 We, thank you very much, we have heard of timelines without numbers. Because I remember
19:10 many a time we had to bring the minister to the floor of the house to answer questions on these
19:17 textbooks matters. And the minister said that textbooks were not the only instructional material
19:24 it was only to support. But some of us agree that even in the developed countries, where they have
19:29 the technology working 24 hours, facilities are there for pupils or students to learn.
19:38 Because I gave an example, when I went to the US on a demonstration lesson,
19:43 you give assignments to a student, a senior high school or junior high school student,
19:49 online. And you will answer the questions back to you online, you mark and then discuss the
19:56 challenges with the student. We don't have that facility here. So, for me,
20:03 it's an argument that you can use technology, the students can use the technology,
20:10 the facilities are not here. So, we need textbooks, even in some developed countries,
20:14 they still use textbooks to support other instructional materials. So, the timelines
20:19 have come and gone without meeting the timeline. So, we cannot take any timelines from them again,
20:25 because it will say it will not come to pass. So, we are, I don't want to say, we don't think that
20:35 anything about timelines given by the ministry or the minister, we should take it to them.
20:39 - Okay. Dr. Osu. - Hello.
20:44 - This is quite a big look. Since 2019, we've been talking about there's a lack of textbooks
20:52 and what have you. Yesterday, NACA itself, I heard the director say that some of the books
20:57 they were using were unapproved. What is the danger at hand here, if because government
21:04 is not supplying the books, some schools have to use unapproved books?
21:09 - Well, the onus lies on the NACA. You are an agency authorized to
21:21 satisfy textbooks in our schools. And you prepare the new curriculum.
21:30 The teacher does not prepare the new curriculum. And the new curriculum NACA prepares,
21:35 NACA is to approve textbooks that go with the new curriculum. And it is one thing
21:42 approving the textbooks, and another thing procuring the textbooks. Now, the public,
21:51 as I said, about two years ago, the minister said he had given them about 120 days
22:00 to print publication. Now, if what my honorable...
22:06 - Member of parliament of the education committee. - Yes, it's saying that the public
22:15 have not received even the area where they are based, their money. Then the problem must be
22:23 a financial problem. If the minister's budget has been cut, at least the select committee
22:34 on education, they should have been made sure that their ministry is allocated enough resources
22:41 to enable the ministry to give the full complement of textbooks to our children.
22:48 Because the children in our schools do not know where the departmental are. They are Ghanaian
22:53 children. And we are expecting our members of parliament to make sure that such a area,
23:00 you cannot just cut their budget. Because if you continue cutting their budget,
23:05 the effect that will come on us will be dire. -
23:15 If you say the effect will be dire, what are you trying to imply?
23:19 - Well, it's not a lesson that some teachers were using unapproved textbooks.
23:28 So if indeed the teacher is using a textbook of material that is not in line with the new
23:38 curriculum, then it means we are deviating from the whole mandate or the purpose of the
23:44 new curriculum. -
23:45 Well, so for you teachers, when you went for the training, I mean for the basic level from one to
23:59 six, I'm sure when you went for the training, you were given certain times that the textbooks
24:04 would be made available. What were these timelines that the ministry gave you?
24:08 - It was with immediate effect.
24:12 That as soon as you receive the new curriculum, it will come with its new textbooks.
24:18 So the teachers were warned, including the head of the Odo School, that no head will allow any
24:27 teacher to use the new curriculum with an altered mood. Directors were directed to do away with the
24:35 altered mood, to make sure that we start the implementation of the new curriculum on a good
24:40 mood. So the timeline was with immediate effect after the training, and it was a weekly thing.
24:47 -
24:51 Will the use of the unapproved textbooks lead to what some would describe as mis-education?
25:00 -
25:02 Well, you know, I am unable to confirm what NACA is limiting to be told.
25:13 - No, but NACA is the one in charge of certifying every textbook that needs to be used. And NACA
25:22 is the same one saying that some of the books I've seen you use are unapproved. That should be a
25:29 strong confirmation and a worry. -
25:33 I agree with you. But you see, the teacher has a hands-on intent of teaching. So this teacher
25:42 will have to refer to other moods in making sure that he is able to explain the concept
25:50 to the best understanding of the class. So now, if NACA is saying that, yes, we have gone out,
25:56 some schools are using unapproved textbooks, as for the teacher, the teacher is doing his or her
26:04 best. There is somebody who is supposed to procure these textbooks. I should not say NACA approved
26:10 them. So, if NACA is telling the one in charge to produce the textbooks that we should leave
26:19 that better way. It is somebody who is supposed to procure these textbooks. They just approved
26:25 the textbooks. -
26:31 So what does NACA intend doing to ensure that this situation is rectified?
26:38 - Well, for me, I think that it's been about three or four years that we've been discussing
26:46 this same subject matter. The ministry, together with the EH, I believe we are listening to the
26:52 program this morning. And then since yesterday, I've gotten a guarantee. I believe that the best
26:58 way is for them to put their heads together and it will give immediate effect, collaborate with
27:02 the public health to make sure that they supply this situation and move forward. How about that?
27:10 -
27:12 Now, we've understood around the table that this is a money matter. It's a money problem.
27:17 It means that they don't have the money and that's why this is happening. How can they then
27:22 collaborate with the public health to make the book available?
27:25 -
27:28 Yes, it's a money matter. But there are so many ways to kill a cat.
27:33 -
27:34 Okay. Mr. Oju, Dr. Oju says there are so many ways of killing a cat and therefore,
27:41 government needs to find a way to get these books available. What would be your suggestion?
27:46 -
27:47 Thank you very much. The issue is that when budget of the ministry of education is presented to
27:55 parliament and referred to the commission on education, we as much as possible try to defend
28:02 the budget so that there are no cuts here and there. So when we argue and the budget is approved,
28:10 we expect the ministry of finance to release things to the various agencies under the ministry
28:17 of education. And you will realize that the money don't go. For instance, YX, it took me a whole
28:28 week to talk on behalf of YX before 15 million was reduced to them to run the DEC for this year.
28:38 So the inability of the minister of finance and the government to look at the priority that
28:44 everybody should attach to education, once it is not coming, we realize that the government's
28:49 commitment to basic education is not there. So that is the challenge we are facing. If the
28:55 ministry of finance should realize the fact that we need to improve on basic education in this
29:02 country and release money, I think we will not have the challenges we are facing now.
29:10 And for instance, the payment of the textbooks, we approved the GATSAN formula. About 200 million
29:18 guarantees was to be paid to the publishers and the printers. As we talked,
29:26 GATSAN has not received any releases for this year, apart from the money approved. So we will
29:33 continue to talk, but the onus lies on the ministry of finance to do the needful. So that
29:40 the basic education system can receive some at least, as it is now, the consequences of the poor
29:48 basic education we are giving to our children, especially in the public schools. If kids are not
29:55 taken, it will produce children who will not know anything from nothing.
30:01 So you approved 200 million to be paid to them this year?
30:08 Yes.
30:09 And that has not been paid?
30:12 No. Because GATSAN has not received the immediate allocation from the ministry of finance. And you
30:21 know the GATSAN law, at the end of every 30 days, they must be paid what the government receives on
30:28 their behalf. But because of the capping and realignment, GATSAN receives just about 38% or
30:34 less of its annual estimate. So that is it. For instance, the parliament paid their budget,
30:42 GATSAN was to receive about 4.6 billion. But the ministry came with a total of 1.8 billion
30:52 to be released to GATSAN. And that was not enough for GATSAN to
30:57 program and activities for the year.
31:01 So is then nothing, is then completed?
31:06 Yeah. For instance, this year, they were not going to even put up any housing blocks at all
31:10 across the country. And you say, why? How can you do that? So we had to realign the budget for them,
31:16 or the formula for them, to enable them to build at least 200 school infrastructure throughout
31:23 the country this year. So GATSAN is suffering. All the agencies are not getting their releases.
31:29 So education is being underfunded all over the sectors.
31:35 Well, let me bring in Mr. Asare Kunedu-Iyamuwa, the Ghana Publishers Association. He is the
31:41 president of that association. Mr. Iyamuwa, I'm grateful for joining us. How much are you owed
31:52 as we speak?
31:53 Yeah, the contract that was given, we're looking at an amount of 239 million.
32:04 239 million?
32:07 Are these for books you've printed already?
32:11 Books we've printed and supplied and delivered.
32:15 How many books have you printed and delivered?
32:20 I can't give you an off the record, but what I'm saying is that total contract is 239 million.
32:29 Wow.
32:31 That's it.
32:32 And these are books that you've printed and supplied to schools?
32:36 Yes, and those are not all, these are not the entire textbooks.
32:41 We need the whole book, i.e. the mathematics, the science, and yes, about three of them.
32:55 So what will it take for you, the printers, or the publishers, to keep supporting government
33:06 in making these textbooks available to the children in the schools?
33:11 John, it's very difficult. Let me say that we have all worked with the Ministry of Education
33:24 and they have been delayed in the payment of supplies.
33:29 But this one, this current procurement, I think that the payment has been delayed
33:35 far beyond what we expected.
33:38 If we are unable to replenish our supplies, i.e. necessarily with the printers, who will support
33:48 the bank to do the textbooks that we are required, it will be very difficult for us
33:54 to proceed along this line.
33:57 This government is already a central party, we will not supply the textbooks.
34:07 And what is the period within which government has owed you? How many months?
34:13 No, I think about three months and two years.
34:17 Three months and two years?
34:22 No, we are not talking about three months, we are talking about two years.
34:27 Okay, so that's one year and nine months?
34:32 Yes.
34:33 Okay.
34:37 And the most pathetic thing is that we don't know who is paying us.
34:43 Whether it's Jetpack paying each of the textbooks that we pay. We don't know who is paying.
34:48 Why don't you know who is paying you? Who gave you the contract?
34:53 No, the Ministry of Education has a contract.
34:56 But the Ministry is saying that Jetpack is going to pay.
35:00 We were the ones who got the contract. There is no money there for Jetpack to pay us.
35:07 We were the Ministry, but they are not giving us money to pay for the textbooks.
35:11 So, I have to say, because no one has the money, it's not us.
35:16 And it's very pathetic because these are people who have invested millions of their money
35:28 in printing textbooks for clients, it doesn't help.
35:33 And then of course, we don't know how they made the issue happen.
35:39 Because there was excellent assurance from the Ministry of Education
35:44 that immediately we would supply and submit our information.
35:49 They were going to pay us.
35:51 I was surprised we delivered to them this quickly.
35:56 We have submitted our information and yet they cannot pay us.
36:02 NACA found out that there are some unapproved books that the schools are using.
36:10 Why do we have those books in circulation?
36:12 So, yesterday I spoke to the MFA.
36:17 I want to repeat this.
36:18 If NACA has found out that some books are one of the very adjacent,
36:23 we will ask NACA to put to the test of the publications and the textbooks that are involved.
36:32 That will be the basis for us to know which print publisher has launched the book.
36:37 Otherwise, NACA can come to make that book a threat.
36:40 And then leave it after.
36:43 We are demanding that NACA should produce the list of the publications and the textbooks.
36:49 Then we will know.
36:52 Then there will be a basis for us to print our publications.
36:55 If indeed, some of them are part of the book.
36:59 So, we will have to spend our time and our effort on this.
37:04 Until NACA produces the list, then we will have a basis for the count.
37:08 Otherwise, we cannot do anything.
37:12 We cannot.
37:12 So, you are challenging NACA to their allegation of unapproved books in circulation?
37:22 Yes.
37:24 They have to bring them to the evidence.
37:27 You can't make an allegation without evidence.
37:29 To us, for example, our members' responses is that.
37:38 That's all I want to say.
37:42 So, I think.
37:43 Ah, you're giving us a lot, but your line is not helping us in the latter stages.
37:55 All right.
37:56 That's right.
37:58 Kunedu Iyamua is the president of the Ghana Publishers Association.
38:03 Mr. Adochu, you had the publishers there.
38:07 They are owed over a year and nine months arrears by government.
38:12 And without the monies, they are not willing.
38:16 They won't supply any book.
38:17 Again, they are challenging NACA to produce the names of the publishers
38:22 who are associated with what they NACA allege to be unapproved textbooks.
38:27 How do we deal with all of this matter to ensure that the education is not really affected that much?
38:34 No, thank you again.
38:37 First of all, government must live up to expectations of Ghanians
38:43 as far as education is concerned in this country by making funds available.
38:49 If you embark on a project or a program and you have drawn the budget,
38:54 why do you fail to pay so that the program can, or the project can continue?
39:01 So, not until monies are made available to the various agencies like GESPAN
39:08 or the ministry itself to pay the publishers and the printers.
39:12 I don't think there's anything we can do now.
39:15 So, our appeal always is that government must release monies.
39:19 They are not, government is not saying that there is no monies.
39:23 They will tell you there is monies.
39:24 Why are you not giving the printers monies?
39:28 You see, if you go to the education sector now,
39:31 so many people are owed various kinds of monies.
39:35 They are school supplies of school uniforms for even two years now have not been paid.
39:44 Food suppliers to various senior secondary schools for two years have not been paid.
39:49 Capitation grants for three years now have not been paid.
39:54 So, you see that everything is disarrayed, especially at the basic level.
40:00 They will continue to tell you, we are doing this, we are doing that,
40:03 and you don't see anything on the ground.
40:05 So, for me, government must re-dedicate itself to quality education
40:11 rather than say we are doing this, we have this 1.4 million in senior high schools.
40:16 What type of quality education are you giving them?
40:19 So, it is up to government.
40:21 I'm sure the public has been talking, the committee has been talking,
40:27 and until government changes its mind, I don't think there's anything we can do.
40:32 So, they should pay up everybody that they owe in this system,
40:36 especially the education sector,
40:37 so that they can continue to provide services to us.
40:41 Other than that, the situation will continue to be the same.
40:45 And that is what I would like to say.
40:47 But it's been one year and nine months and government has not paid this money.
40:54 So, is there any sort of assurance that in fact government can pay
41:03 after almost two years that it has owed these publishers?
41:08 Well, as a committee, we don't control their pay.
41:10 It's government that controls their pay.
41:13 So, not that the government releases money to the agency to pay.
41:18 I don't know what you can say because we have talked to that number
41:22 that do this, do that, pay them people so that they can continue to provide services.
41:27 Government is not ready to do it.
41:29 So, my brother, I think they are listening to you
41:33 and they should do what is expected of them.
41:36 I think the time has come that everybody must pick up on things in this country.
41:42 Dr. Ozu, if you listen to Mr. Ntchu and you listen to Mr. Yamua,
41:50 it looks as though that things look a bit bleak
41:56 because if government owes the publishers one year and nine months
42:01 and we don't know when they are going to be paid,
42:03 the Education Committee has asked government to pay these people.
42:06 Government is not paying and it's only government that could pay the people
42:11 so they supply the books.
42:12 Then the future looks bleak, doesn't it?
42:16 Dr. Ozu.
42:22 - Can you hear me?
42:23 - Yeah, I can hear you now.
42:24 - Yes, I think that is the exact way.
42:30 How do we avert this?
42:32 Because we cannot look on and say our kids should be in a setup
42:37 for whose future looks bleak.
42:41 We need to find a way out.
42:43 What must we do?
42:44 - I think I said this earlier that it will be very important for the Ministry of Education
42:53 to put their house in order to make sure that they are left with this situation.
43:00 Because the earlier we do it, the better for all of us.
43:02 - But putting their house in order, it's been from 2019 to 2023,
43:11 they are owed the publishers one year and nine months.
43:14 You believe that they can really put their house in order?
43:18 - I believe so because we cannot joke with the future of our children.
43:24 And the future cannot be faulted.
43:29 You see, the ministry should not allow anybody to fault the future.
43:35 NACA should not make any attempt to fault the future.
43:39 The issue is not about the future, but the issue is about the ones who produce this book,
43:46 make them available to the school.
43:48 And I'm saying that it is doable.
43:51 It is very doable.
43:59 - Well, there's this research, a study that was conducted by,
44:08 it's in the Journal of Education and Practice,
44:13 and the title is "Achieving Quality Education in Ghana,
44:17 "a spotlight on primary education within the Kumasi metropolis."
44:21 It was written by four people,
44:25 Ebrahim Bwacheamponsa, Ebenezer Kofi Eninfo, Emmanuel Kwabena Enin, and Patience Vandepoy.
44:31 And I want us to go to their discussion bit, I mean, from their study,
44:37 what they found and what the importance are for us as a country.
44:45 One of the things that they brought up is that quality education,
44:53 in order to implement measures to improve primary education in Ghana,
44:56 it was essential to establish and understand the nature of the challenges
45:01 hampering the delivery of quality primary education and its impact on pupils.
45:05 In this study, headteachers, teachers and pupils from four primary schools
45:10 sympathetically expressed their concerns about the state of test books
45:15 and supplementary readers in primary education.
45:20 So it means that we cannot play with the importance that test books
45:25 bring to our education sector, and therefore,
45:28 we must do everything to ensure test books are available.
45:31 But we spent close to four years, we're not getting the test books.
45:35 So what must we do before I let you go?
45:38 What really can change the situation around?
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