Government yet to make good its promise of printing textbooks locally

In his state of the nation address in February this year, President Mahama said six million textbooks and 15 million exercise books would be produced.

“I am convinced we have enough capacity locally to print this material. I have asked the Minister for Education to ensure that domestic printing houses are involved in fulfilling this huge order,” the President said.

But five months after the promise has been made the vision is yet to be realised.

Addressing the general public at a public forum titled “Government for the People”, in the Greater Accra region on Tuesday July 12, Deputy Minister of Communications Felix Kwakye-Ofosu said that even though the move will give “the opportunity to print tens of thousands of textbooks for our school children” it is yet to start.

He said a huge sum of money is needed for the start of this project, but the move will also cut down on the unemployment levels in the country.

“It is estimated that about a GHC100 million will go into that endeavour and already the association of printers has made government aware that up to 4000 young people will have the opportunity to be employed when they begin this project which will start very soon,” Kwakye-Ofosu said.

Previously Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa toured some printing houses in Greater Accra where he assured them of making the promise a reality.

Even though this is yet to start, the industry players have indicated their readiness to do the work whenever they are called upon.