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GES approved 'Prof.' Quarm's book

The letter contradicts an earlier statement by the ministry of education in which it said the only approved book was Natural Science for Primary Schools: Activity-Based Pupils’ Book 1” jointly authored by Peter Asiedu, Henric Atta Baa-Yeboah and Ebenezer Agyiri Domptey.

 

The letter said :“The above-named books which were submitted to the textbook and educational committee (TEEC) through the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the Ghana Education Service have been assessed. Decision: The books are recommended as supplementary materials or the teaching and learning of Natural Science at the Lower Primary and Colleges of Education.”

The author of the book, Joseph Albert Quarm, also know as 'Prof.' Quarm, defended the depiction of the head as a load carrier on Accra based Joy FM on Tuesday.

According to him, depicting the function of the head as a load carrier was informed by the level of understanding of the primary one pupils.

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He said children learn best by visual aids, therefore it was important to state the function of the head as it is used in the Ghanaian society.

He defended the function of the head as a load carrier because it was a common use in Ghana.

He explained that as the child progresses through the educational ladder, the child will be taught abstract ideas of the head such as used for thinking.

He also revealed that the publication was approved by the Ghana Education Service after the Ministry of Education claimed it has not approved the book for sale.

The book has been criticized by a section of the academia and policy think tank IMANI Ghana.

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Educationist Anis Haffar said the book was misleading young children and projecting negative stereotypes.

“It is not normal, the human head was not ordained by God to carry things on the head because what is going to happen is that, the cartilages between the vertebrae are going to get worn out. So that a child who is consistently carrying things on the head will be having problems with the neck,” Haffar said.

“What bothers me is that we feed on the negative stereotypes on society and we enforce that on young people so they keep reinforcing the negative onto their lives. This is a clear depiction of what this teacher has done,” he added.

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