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North Tongu MP, Ablakwa expresses worry over controversial ‘Ewe’ textbooks

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said he has filed an urgent parliamentary request for the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, to appear before the house to respond to questions with regard to a newly-published history textbooks for pupils in Primary 3 and 4, which, in the opposition MP’s view, contains stereotypical content about Ewes.
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According to the North Tongu MP, who is also an Ewe and served as Deputy Education Minister in the erstwhile Mahama-led government, the Education Minister will appear before the House to respond to what he referred to as the “two bigoted publications in issue".

Ablakwa files urgent question over controversial ‘Ewe’ textbooks

Ablakwa files urgent question over controversial ‘Ewe’ textbooks

In a post on Facebook on Sunday, 14 March 2021, Mr Ablakwa said: “The text of my urgent question is as follows: To ask the Honourable Minister responsible for Education whether the publications titled: History of Ghana, Text Book 3 by Badu Nkansah Publications authored by Badu Nkansah and Nelly Martinson Anim and Golden English Basic 4, authored by Okyere Baafi Alexander, both of which contain bigoted content targeted at the Ewe ethnic group, have come to his Ministry’s attention; were they approved by any of his Ministry's agencies and what steps Government is taking to purge our schools and book shops from offensive, divisive and incendiary publications of this nature?”

The textbooks have sparked anger among Ewes on social media.

Ablakwa files urgent question in Parliament over controversial ‘Ewe’ textbooks

Ablakwa files urgent question in Parliament over controversial ‘Ewe’ textbooks

Meanwhile, Badu Nkansah, the publisher of the book has apologised to Ghanaians.

According to the company, although the book had satisfied most of the technical content requirements, NaCCA “told us to work on certain aspects of the book further in order for it to meet the expectations of the new curriculum”.

Unfortunately, while undergoing the review, a limited quantity of the unpublished draft found its way into the market. We have seen certain snapshots on social media which has generated justified public uproar due to their offensive tone. Though it is not a deliberate attempt to berate such a huge section of our society, we wish to unreservedly apologise for the slip. Our brand stands for national unity, and we currently employ workers who originate from all parts of the country.”

The firm also said it is investigating how the few copies found their way into the market.

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