Editorial: Urgent need to review textbook policy.

It also ensures that the content is accurate, complete, and adapted to school programmes, while being accessible to all students. CNAMSMD also encourages regular updating of content to reflect scientific and technological advances and provides recommendations to teachers and publishers to maintain high educational standards.

Their mission on paper is commendable, but in practice, there are a basket of discrepancies, even including allegations of corruption.

During a press conference in Yaounde after members of the commission had visited some bookshops in the capital, the President of the Commission, Jean Paul Komon, said the tour was aimed at confirming the availability of textbooks in bookshops, as well as keeping the education community and the general public informed.

“We have a duty to make sure that textbooks are accessible and available to the general public. We have been hearing rumours that there are no books available, but we want to clarify all this and assure the public that books are available,” Komon stated.

He further noted that the official list of validated textbooks was signed early enough by both the Ministers of Basic and Secondary Education.

He further explained that the list was validated five months ahead of the official reopening of schools, giving publishers ample time to produce and distribute their books.

But when questioned about the absence of some of the approved books in bookshops, the Permanent Secretary of the Commission, Prof Marcelin Vounda Etoa, explained that the books still lacking will be available as soon as possible. “We received information from some distributors that some of the unavailable books are already at the Port and in the process of being cleared by Customs officials,” he stated.

What about the scarcity of technical educational textbooks? 

“The booklist we produced for technical education was based on what was given to us by technical education inspectors. We validated and signed their list, but we did not publish. There is still a lot of work to be done with the selection of technical education books. The books have to be selected based on the environment they will be used in. We are seriously working on adapting technical education books to our environment,” Prof Vounda said.

He then added that: “Some of the books that are not available are not urgent for immediate use and when they arrive, they will correspond to the academic calendar without prejudice to the students”. 

What about allegations of corruption?   

The officials regretted that some schools were bribed to defy the official booklist. “Our hands are tied, we cannot really do much as per sanctioning. What we do is observe, file reports to the ministries concerned and the National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC,” Komon stated

If schools that reject the official booklist and are bribed by publishers are being indicted, there are also allegations that the commission is influenced by bribes to select books, given the competitiveness in the number of books.

This year, there were 286 books submitted for the English sub-system and only 77 were approved.

In the French sub-system of education, 240 were tabled and 56 accepted. Publishers pay 100,000 FCFA for each book submitted.

Given speculation of corruption that is rife in the choice of textbooks, on March 26, 2021, Hon Njume Peter Ambang, in a question and answer session at the National Assembly, asked the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute, to explain. 

Hon Njume said: "After a few years of its existence, Mr Prime Minister, to the dismay and disappointment of many stakeholders, including members of the Education Committee of the National Assembly, the National Textbook Commission has gone back to the old habits, as the ugly lead of corruption, abuse of power and chaos exist".

He pointed out that due to the mess in the commission, the teachers’ syndicates wrote a protest letter to Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, bringing out what they called gross corruption and irregularities in the commission.

In reply, the Prime Minister and Head of Government rejected all allegations and said that the evaluation criterion had been published since March 29, 2018, and known to all stakeholders of the textbook chain.

The evaluation of textbooks proposed by publishers, following a call for expression of interest, is carried out anonymously by expert evaluators duly appointed by education ministers while textbooks are evaluated on the basis of their content, physical presentation and prices with the content being the major criteria, the PM explained.

Assuming the parliamentarian raised smoke where there was no fire, but there is still a need to review the Commission based on its own confession. If Yaounde experiences a shortage of books, then the situation in the Regions, especially in the crisis-hit North West and South West Regions, is catastrophic. 

If the shortage is because of the delay in Customs clearance, are there no printing houses in Cameroon that can produce higher quality books than those in Asian countries?

Why does the Commission not just concentrate on providing syllabuses, while the various schools select books suited for them? Do some of those institutions that reject official booklists not excel in public examinations?

In as much as The Guardian Post appreciates government's policy on textbooks, we are of the vehement conviction that emphasis should be on the respect of syllabuses, while publishers ensure they update their contents to match with evolving and innovative educational trends around the world. Giving a handful of publishers the monopoly to supply books, which they cannot deliver on time, will only result to delay and spike cost of textbooks.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3239 of Tuesday September 24, 2024