Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Education Minister
Text Book Publisher, Badu Nkansah Limited, has been forced to render an unqualified apology for what many see as the offensive tone used in one of its books, ‘History of Ghana Textbook 3’.
Portions of the content of the book, which denigrates the Ewe ethnic grouping among others, have found its way onto the market when it has not been sanctioned by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA).
The publisher issued a public statement apoligizing for its indiscretion and admitted that the book was not approved by NaCCA but said it found its way into the market and as a result, was investigating how it went out.
Aspects of the said offensive publication featured a song that showed the Ewes identity by making inappropriate references which were deemed unfortunate and in contradiction with NaCCA’s Book Submission Guidelines and Approval Methodology which guided the work of publishers and authors.
In an apology statement signed by Mark Osei, the Publisher of Badu Nkansah Publications, said the book was submitted to NaCCA for approval, however, NaCCA raised concerns over certain aspects of the book which they needed to work on in order for it to meet the expectations of the new curriculum.
“Unfortunately, while undergoing the review, a limited quantity of the unpublished draft found its way into the market…Though it is not a deliberate attempt to berate such a huge section of our society, we wish to unreservedly apologise for the slip…In the meantime, we have called up all copies in circulation with immediate effect since they have not yet met the final approvement threshold,” the statement read.
Unapproved Text Books
Meanwhile, NaCCA has reaffirmed that the controversial textbooks including History of Ghana for Basic 6 by Golden Publications which carries distasteful information about Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP and Golden English Basic 4 by Golden Publication, which displays ‘Efo agrees to prepare juju for the players’ on page 17 which has received criticism for their depiction of Ewes, have not been approved for use in schools.
In an earlier statement, the council had asked Badu Nkansah Publications, to withdraw its book which was noted to feature a song that depicted Ewe identity.
“In each of these books and others discovered on social media, the authors made inappropriate references to personalities and ethnic groups which were deemed unfortunately distasteful and were in contradiction with NaCCA’s Book Submission Guidelines,” the council said in its most recent statement on the matter.
It again assured that it had met with one other publication responsible for one of the flagged books, Golden Publication, “and has asked them to withdraw all the unapproved offending books stated and any other from the market and submit copies for assessment and approval which they have complied with.”
“Additionally, the publishers have been asked to issue an unequivocal apology through the electronic, print and social media,” the statement added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri