Many teachers and pupils have decried the delay by the government to supply textbooks to complement the implementation of the new basic school curriculum.
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Teachers cry out to GES over textbooks after 5-years of implementing new curriculum
Basic school teachers in the country have for the past five years been faced with the challenge of implementing a new standard-based curriculum without the required learning materials.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum
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Municipal and district directors of education and head teachers of some basic schools in the Central Region have expressed their reservations about the approach the government employed in the implementation of the new basic school curriculum.
The educational heads said the shortfall in the supply of textbooks, particularly for English Language, Core Mathematics, and Science, was not aiding effective teaching and learning under the new standard-based curricula.
They made this known when a 20-member Government Assurance Committee of Parliament embarked on a verification visit to some selected basic schools in the Central Region on Thursday, June 1, and Friday, June 2, 2023.
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Chairperson of the committee, Patricia Appiagyei who led the team to the Islamic Research School in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, the Osubonpanyin Ateitu MA Basic School in the Effutu Municipality, Pomadze-Asebu D/A B Model Basic in the Gomoa Central District, Apewosika M/A Basic School in Cape Coast and the Kufui M/A Primary School in the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipality, discovered that most schools had not received the full set of textbooks.
The team also visited the Central Regional Depot at the Ghana National College where the Regional Supply Officer, Ebenezer Awotwe, also confirmed the shortage in the supply of textbooks.
During the visit to the Islamic Research Basic School, the Headteacher of the school, Rahinatu Iddrisu, informed the committee that the school had received a set of English and Science textbooks for a standard-based curriculum from Class One to Class Six.
Again, the school had not received Mathematics textbooks for Classes One to Five.
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For Creative Arts textbooks, she said, they received textbooks from Class One to Class Three.
On the part of the Awutu Senya East Municipal Director of Education, Faustina Alimatu Braimah, she said the GES in Accra first delivered the textbooks to the Central Regional Depot in Cape Coast, where the municipal directorate sent vehicles to pick them up to Kasoa for distribution to schools, based on enrolment.
She described the process of sending vehicles to pick up the books as not only cumbersome but costly to the directorate which operated on an annual budget of GH¢3,000.
"We cannot cart all the textbooks at a go because our vehicles are small and sometimes we have to rent cars to go and bring them from Cape Coast for distribution," she explained.
At the Osubonpanyin Ateitu M/A Basic School in Winneba, the Headteacher, Catherine Bentum, told the committee that the school had received the full set of Mathematics, English, and Science textbooks.
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Also, Rose Quansah, the Headteacher of Pomadze Asebu D/A B Basic School, told the committee that the school with an enrolment of 573 learners from Kindergarten One to JHS Three, had received 31 copies of Science for Class One, 42 copies for Class Two, 36 copies for Class Three, 46 copies for Class Four, 40 copies for Class Five and 40 copies for Class Six.
Since its rollout in 2019, teachers across the country are yet to access the requisite learning materials intended to aid teaching and learning in the various basic schools.
The new standards-based curriculum which was implemented in September 2019 was rolled out from Kindergarten to Class 6 in primary schools.
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