NaCCA builds capacity of textbook assessors

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) has organized a two-day capacity building session for Textbook assessors on the proposed Textbook Approval Process.

The workshop, which is taking place in Koforidua in the Eastern region, forms part of preparation for the implementation of the newly developed curricula for Ghanaian Schools in September. The new curricula form part of the overall education reforms encapsulated into the 12-year Policy document – Education Strategic Plan by the Ministry of Education.

Participants at the workshop are teachers and lecturers of different academic backgrounds most of whom were part of the development of the new textbooks lauded by many Ghanaians as a game changer in Ghana’s Education System.

The textbook assessors would be taken through rudiments such as textbook assessment and approval methodology, overview of the publisher submission guidelines, textbook approval process workflow, conformity to technical specification of the new Curriculum among others facilitated by Dr. Kwaku Ganu, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong and Mrs. Irene Nimo Nunoo.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of NaCCA, Dr Prince H. Armah, said the Council is committed to ensuring a robust assessment and certification regime for textbooks that will strictly conform with the quality standard requirement of the new Curricula.

“We have brought you here to take you through the new approval process. This is a new approach and a new process and we want you to understand the rudiment and technicalities involved in the new process. By our mandate as a Council, nobody can send or sell a textbook to a school without our approval. And the Ministry or Government of Ghana cannot buy any textbook for Schools without our approval. So the Ministry will rely on our technical advise when it comes to purchasing of textbooks for schools,” Dr. Armah said.

He stated that the Council will live up to its mandate to ensure that unapproved textbooks by publishers do not flood the market.

“So what we do is to assess the textbooks and give publishers certification that their textbooks had been approved so out of those that have been approved the Ministry can decide which of them they want to buy.

“Our core mandate is to determine whether the textbooks are wholesome for human consumption. And we must conceptualize textbook as a product like how tomato paste or how sardines are found in the supermarkets. And since FDA is responsible for that to ensure that the quality standards are met we are FDA in the education sector because a textbook is also a food in someway; you consume,” Dr. Armah noted.

He added: “You read it [textbook] and it gets into your mind and you live with it. If you see a textbook that recognizes same sex our kids will begin to believe and to live that behavior which may be alien or inconsistent with our historical cultural identity. So we will rid them off.”

Dr. Armah reiterated the Council will soon launch a short code for the general public to detect unapproved textbooks on the market.

Source:Starrfm.com.gh