Wed, 03 May 2017 12:08:41 +0000
THE fact that course materials distributed in schools are rigorously evaluated before they are authorised by the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) to ensure they meet the required standard, does not answer the crux of the matter which Zambian publishers are raising about the manner they are shabbily treated by the Ministry of Education.
Zambian publishers and other stakeholders want to know why Government is awarding contracts worth millions of United States dollars to foreign entities for the procurement of school textbooks when equally highly equipped and technically competent local publishing houses are closing down for lack of business, throwing hundreds of workers into the street.
They want to know what is so special about these Zambian registered foreign publishing companies which have been winning these procurement contracts over the past several years in spite of protests and petitions by local publishers to the Ministry of Education.
If indeed there is something wrong about the content of materials by local publishers, how come the Ministry of Education has never bothered to organise a workshop to explain to the local book writers, proof readers, editors and printers where they go wrong? If the problem is presentation and packaging, surely that too can be taken care of.
The ministry says the major challenge in book evaluation was that authors wanted to use shortcuts and were not willing to follow guidelines. What are these shortcuts and how are they reluctant to follow laid down examples and requirements?
Is this not perhaps a cunning way of disqualifying local publishers under the pretext that they fail the evaluation bar because they do not follow instructions and are in a hurry to submit incomplete manuscripts which they know would not pass the test?
What we find unconvincing is that most of these Zambian authors, publishers and book sellers are veteran educationalists many of whom are retired teachers, college principals and specialists in one field or another in the education sector. To assume that such people can submit half-baked materials for assessment by the Ministry of Education is hard to believe.
After all many of them are the ones who designed the entire Zambian school curriculum through a series of workshops, seminars and conferences while they were the luminaries in the Ministry of Education. After they retired they decided to give back to society by using their knowledge and skill to advance the country’s education system through the formation of book publishing houses to do what they know best.
What we find unacceptable is that Government now considers such people valueless, incompetent and unfit to be awarded a tender to supply course materials, which they designed, to the Ministry of Education.
All of a sudden foreigners, who have no idea about the country’s culture, customs and traditions which are often woven intricately in primary school course materials, are the champions of the education sector. The result is that most of these materials are rejected by the users who find them alien and unsuitable for our learning environment.
We advise decision makers in the Ministry of Education to come down to earth and realise that they are first and foremost Zambians. The school system they manage is designed for Zambian children, using well-founded Zambian knowledge and wisdom, based on Zambian learning tactics and techniques.
While it is true that Africa is for Africans, there is no substitute for local indigenous knowledge handed down from our forefathers which we must instil in the future generations through educational course materials. This can only be possible through the practical wisdom and application of Zambia’s veterans of the education sector.
This why whatever excuses the Ministry of Education are giving to justify the side-lining of Zambians in textbook procurement in preference for foreigners who pay under the table, we are doing ourselves and our children a great disservice.
Only time will tell.
