The Ghana Education Service (GES), has contradicted the Education Ministry’s claim that the controversial primary textbook depicting the head as a part of the human body used for carrying load, has not been approved. An official of the GES says the book went through the required approval process in 2011. He also justified the author’s depiction of the head as a load carrier, saying there was nothing wrong with it.
The Education Ministry after receiving some backlash from policy think tank, VIAM Africa, issued a statement on Monday in which it condemned the depiction in the textbook and also stated that it had not gone through the required assessment and recommendation for use in primary schools.
“It must be noted that the book in question is not the approved textbook for schools under the Ghana Education Service. We can however, confirm that there is only one approved primary 1 textbook titled ‘Natural Science for Primary Schools: Activity-Based Pupils’ Book 1’ jointly authored by Peter Asiedu, Henric Atta Baa-Yeboah and Ebenezer Agyiri Domptey. On page 62 of this particular book, it is indicated that “our head contains the brain which helps us to think.”
“The Ministry wishes to advise against associating the Ministry or the Ghana Education Service with this publication. We also caution heads of schools and parents on the purchase and use of such books on the open market. In case any parent wants to buy a book for his or her children, they should contact the Curriculum Research and Development Division of the Ghana Education Service,” the statement added.
The controversy
In his ‘Natural Science for Primary Schools – Pupil’s Book 1,’ the author Albert Joseph Quarm stated that the human head is used for carrying loads. This classification has however been heavily criticized with many including the Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Kofi Bentil, calling for an immediate withdrawal of the books from schools.
But the author, has defended his work and now says his textbook was assessed and recommended by the GES as a material for teaching and learning. He made this known in a letter he released to the media.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3HzQr6jQ415wb831GhfORdmUwBTnUtrF”]The National Council for Curriculum Assessment at GES, says the textbook was assessed in 2011 and recommended for schools.
Nothing erroneous with the depiction
Speaking to Citi News, the Director of the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, Charles Aheto Tsegah, dismissed suggestions that the function of the head as stated in the textbook was erroneous.
He explained that in 2011, his outfit was mandated to do a thorough assessment of “all books that are used in schools, so yes they approved it.”
Aheto Tsegah also argued that depicting the head as a load carrier “is not wrong” because “it is true, the head is used for carrying load, and that is a fact.”
“It is not only in Ghanaian culture, in the case of East Africa, they don’t carry load on their head, they hung the strip of that load carrier around their head and carry it on their back, so the head is used for carrying load, you can challenge that, and it is actually part of our cultural way of life so I don’t know where the error is,” he insisted.
The textbook didn’t capture other uses of the head
He noted that although there are other functions of the head which the book failed to capture, that does not make the book sub-standard.
“Maybe there are other uses and the book doesn’t mention it, that is the issue. But it is not a wrong statement. Another fact again is that, there are other uses of the head that were not stated in the book, maybe we can say that the book does not present adequate knowledge about how the head is used; it doesn’t make that statement in the book wrong. The point is that the head is used for carrying load and that is a fact, you can’t change it,” he stressed.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana