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The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), acting on behalf of the Ministry of Education, has announced the first batch of recommended textbooks for use in teaching the new curriculum at the KG and elementary levels.
The first batch of 187 books was announced in a brief ceremony on Thursday, and more textbooks are expected to be announced next week.
Dr. Prince Armah, Executive Secretary of the Council, expressed his gratitude to all his partners and stakeholders, particularly teachers and parents for their patience in waiting for textbook developers and publishers.
“We are sharing with you the initial books that have been evaluated and recommended. We have about 27 presentations that we just submitted for evaluation. The process continues. We look forward to evaluating as publishers bring in materials. ”
The recommended textbooks cover some of the subjects from KG to Elementary Six, including Math, Science, English, Creative Arts, among others.
According to him, for each recommended textbook, there is a teacher’s guide and, depending on the subject area, a workbook, all of which are intended to ensure effective teaching and learning of the new curriculum.
Dr. Prince Armah stated that some of the subjects have at least three different recommended textbooks from different publishers that could give students varying explanations and ideas about the concepts in the curriculum.
Reason, he said, could ensure that students do not limit themselves to concepts and ideas in a single textbook, but that, with the help of their teachers and parents, they study and better understand the concepts using different books.
Rigorous Text book Approval process
Explaining the reasons for the apparent delay in recommending new textbooks for the new curriculum, Dr. Prince Armah told a cross section of journalists that NaCCA and the Editors had to go through rigorous feedback processes before finally recommending the first batch.
He explained that under his mandate, NaCCA prepares a curriculum but cannot enter textbook publishing, as NaCCA is the industry regulator.
“You cannot be a referee and a player at the same time. Our duty is to prepare a curriculum, wait for private textbook writers and editors to develop textbooks and other instructional materials based on the curriculum to evaluate and make recommendations to the Ministry of Education, as well as To the general public “.
“We started this entire approval process on June 1, 2019 by publishing the guidelines for submitting and evaluating books,” he explained.
According to him, there is the Instruction Resources and Textbooks Quality Unit at NaCCA that accepts materials from private publishers and authors compares textbooks with the curriculum, reviews some of the associated instructional processes, ensures that the words , images and diagrams are synchronized with the country’s laws and acceptable cultural norms.
“When there were errors, the editors were asked to correct and resubmit the samples. Some of them had to go back and forth about five times, hence the delays in publishing the recommended list of textbooks, “he said.
He added that while these books are recommended, NaCCA still appreciates the comments and opinions of school administrators, teachers, parents, and the general public on the recommended textbooks.
This will help textbook writers and editors improve the quality of their textbooks.
There are no textbooks for some subjects.
Although many of the subjects have several recommended textbooks and some are still being evaluated, Dr. Armah quickly admitted that some of the subjects, particularly local languages and physical education, have not yet received samples of textbooks from the editors.
He explained that most publishers are business minded and will invest in topics that they believe many people will be interested in buying.
That is why NaCCA in designing the new standards-based curriculum provided teachers with resource packages for teachers so that in the absence of a textbook for a topic, teaching and learning are not seen. seriously affected.
He said that for years, many teachers in technical and vocational institutions have taught their subjects without approved textbooks, adding that the new curriculum makes life easier for teachers who are likely to fall into this category.
He also acknowledged the possibility of unscrupulous entrepreneurs flooding the market with non-recommended textbooks, and said that NaCCA will soon announce a short code that will help parents and the general public verify the authenticity of textbooks they buy from. the market.
