Book council scribe justifies change of textbooks.

The exercise took place at Government Bilingual Technical High School, GBHS, Nsam-Yaounde. The Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, chaired the meeting.

In a discourse on the administrative and pedagogic perspectives of using new accredited textbooks in secondary education, Prof Etoa situated the legal and pedagogic context of the changes. He insisted that the new textbooks will go into use during the 2024/2025 academic year.

According to Prof Etoa, the changes are within the context of the laws in force and pedagogic exigencies of the time. He explained that renewing textbooks is not done haphazardly but in strict respect of what the law says.

Prof Etoa remarked that: “The change of school textbooks is based on a strict framework. Textbooks of the First Cycle of General Secondary Education undergoing changes have stayed on the official lists for six years (2018-2023)”.

The scholar also said the changes are in line with Article 14 of the decree of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, of November 23, 2017, organising the National Book Council. 

He also stated that Book Law N°. 2021/024 of 16th December 2021, had reviewed the duration of books on the official booklist to three years renewable.

Logically, Prof Etoa said the introduction of new books is in line with the Kaizen Principle. The principle, he stated, “supports a constant search for improvement, through rigorous critical evaluations”. 

He also added that it is in tandem with the decision of the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, of June 14, 2023, “redefining the contents of programmes of First Cycle General Education”. 

Unmasking corrupt networks 

In terms of getting things work on the field, Prof Etoa said the challenge remains getting everyone to respect the official textbook lists. 

He intimated that all books in the First Cycle of secondary education have been changed. He, however, lamented that “some very pernicious old practices linked to the use of these books remain and are rampant among corrupt stakeholders, mostly in lay private and confessional schools”.

In some private and confessional schools, he said, officials play around, refusing to recognise the official list because of pecuniary interests.

The Permanent Secretary of the book council also said the number of schools violating the official textbook lists has continued to increase.

Prof Etoa said: “For instance, there is a publisher who, with the complicity of some school authorities, has produced and is marketing Workbooks for the First Cycle of Anglophone subsystem of secondary education”.

He added that “still with the complicity of some school authorities, eleven of these Workbooks are being forced on parents, even while they have not been officially accredited”. 

The Permanent Secretary of the book council also reiterated that, there is another practice of school officials using books with unevaluated content in place of what has been approved.

Need for synergy to boost Pedagogic Guides

Another issue which Prof Etoa said actions are being taken to address is to enhance the use of pedagogic guides. With the new textbooks lists in place, he said, they are working to strengthen partnership with the Ministry of Secondary Education to make real the use of Pedagogic Guides. 

This, he said, is needed to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning.

He underscored that: “As a matter of fact, the books are all accompanied with Pedagogic Guides, both physically and digitally, which are not accessible to all”.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3210 of Monday August 26, 2024