Publishing for secondary education in Ghana: a policy
review*
Kwasi Darko-Ampem
Kwasi Darko-Ampem is Senior Librarian at the University of Botswana,
PO Box 70312, Gaborone, Botswana. +267 3554235(tel), +267 357291(fax),
email: darkoko@mopipi.ub.bw
The main theme of this paper is the new government
of Ghana policy aimed at private sector participation in the growth
and development of the country, and the recent announcement that the
Ministry of Education (MoE) has ceased to publish textbooks, leaving
this to the publishing industry. The context of this change and its
effect on the local publishing scene are discussed. The paper recommends
a holistic approach to the development of the local publishing industry
beyond the provision of school textbooks.
Book publishing policy
Pernille Askerud defines a national book policy
as ‘a coherent set of regulations and development indicators formulated
and supported by a national authority to govern the development, printing
and dissemination of books and other printed materials with the aim
of promoting a culture of reading’.1 By
implication, the highest authority in the country must support the formulation
of a book policy in order for the policy to gain national recognition
and acceptance. In another sense, a national book policy is a plan or
course of action directed at a sound approach towards the development
of books and the promotion of a healthy national book industry.
A national book policy therefore helps to define
the confines within which book development can take place, and should
be able to address such areas as language and educational policies,
access to books by all segments of the society, and provide the framework
for the creation, production, distribution and promotion of books of
all categories. A national book policy aims at removing the constraints
which impede the development of endogenous authorship and publishing,
especially in national languages; identifying book gaps in the country
and stating intentions in this regard; and developing a strong library
network.
Publishing in Ghana
State involvement in publishing in Ghana followed
the activities of European missionaries and traders and the colonial
government. A key element in the development of publishing in post-independence
Ghana includes the Free Textbook Scheme passed by the Government in
1961 which attempted to supply every school pupil with basic textbooks.
This policy, however, eroded any book-buying culture that was left with
Ghanaians after independence, resulting in the near collapse of bookshops.2
The cumulative effect of the 1951 Accelerated Development Plan of Education
and the Government Free Textbook Scheme was publishing responsibilities,
which could not be carried out by the missionary presses and the Government
printer. Hence, in 1965, the Ghana Publishing Corporation (GPC) was
established with the objective of publishing educational and scholarly
works, while promoting and interpreting Ghanaian culture.
Writing on the GPC, Brown argued that ‘the
picture in Ghana before 1965 showed an entire absence of foreign or
indigenous publishing houses, and a heavy dependence on the importation
of books and educational materials’.3 The GPC
is reputed to be one of the largest state publishing enterprises in
Africa, comprising publishing, printing and distribution divisions.
By 1973 it had published 119 titles out of the 298 manuscripts it had
received since 1968. While some commentators saw the establishment of
the GPC as stifling the local publishing industry, Cabutey-Adodoadji
saw it had many great benefits and that ‘it opened up avenues
for indigenous publishers through training opportunities and contacts
with foreign publishing companies’.4 Brown
admitted, however, that most agreements with foreign companies were
skewed in favour of the latter and that the local press house was always
worse off.5
Most of the local publishing houses, if not all,
evolved around seasoned author-publishers and former personnel of multinational
publishing firms. Among them were Anowuo and Moxon, which folded after
a brief success. Well-established local firms include Afram, Sedco,
Halco’s Educational Press, Adwinsa, and Illen, all of which have
been in business for more than 15 years. Both Educational Press and
Sedco won the coveted Noma Award for African publishing in 1981 and
1983 respectively.
The Ghana Book Publishers Association (GBPA),
founded in 1976, was strengthened in 1991 with institutional support
from CODE (the Canadian Organization for Development through Education).
Today it has 56 members. Among its successes are the negotiated waiver
of 15 per cent sales tax on imported printing goods, and the participation
of its members in a programme for the publication of post-literacy materials
in 15 local languages co-ordinated by the Non-Formal Education Division
of the Ministry of Education and funded by the World Bank. It has also
negotiated the printing of about 40 titles of senior secondary school
textbooks, and the purchase of books by The Ghana Book Trust (a CODE-funded
NGO) from its registered members for distribution to district libraries.
The continued involvement of the Curriculum Research
and Development Division of the Ministry of Education in the writing
of school textbooks is a bone of contention between the GBPA and the
Ministry. The simple reason is that government involvement in book publishing
stifles the local publishing industry and reduces its professionalism.
The country does not have an official book policy, even though the Ghana
Book Development Council (GBDC) and the GBPA are reviving attempts to
establish one.
Hasan reported that, after co-organizing two successful
workshops just after its establishment in 1977, the GBDC initiated the
process for the establishment of the book industry degree course at
the University of Science & Technology, Kumasi.6
The course has been running since October 1984.
The context of the new policy
A recent report on the standard of education at
basic school level emphasizes the link between publishing and education.
Serious concerns have been raised over the written and spoken English
of students who leave the junior and senior secondary schools in Ghana.
Tracing the cause to primary level, the Ministry of Education decided
in 1998 to purchase supplementary readers for all primary schools in
the country. Some four million books were bought, including one million
local language books. Sixty per cent of these books came from foreign
publishers and 40 per cent from local publishers. Although this ratio
is a significant improvement on past purchases, it shows that publishing
is still dominated by foreign commercial publishers, and there is room
for growth in the local industry.
Since textbooks and other instruction materials
have direct impact on what is taught in schools and how it is taught,
curriculum development and curriculum materials are sensitive matters
which are of great political importance. This is why the book sector
in industrialized countries receives both direct and indirect subsidies.
There is always a need for a mechanism to review and control the quality
of learning materials with regard to relevance, content, educational
approach and efficacy, as well as to ensure that the provision of learning
materials reflects government policies. Textbooks form the largest single
market in any developing country; in Ghana, for instance, they are virtually
the only viable part of the publishing industry because this sector
is the lucrative one for the publisher and bookseller. The situation
is compounded when only the government's textbook is prescribed and
all others get only the ‘recommended textbook’ tag, even
though the prescribed textbook may not necessarily be the best.
In the absence of a national book policy, certain
developments continue to take place which affect the book industry.
Ofei reported that: ‘Quite recently the government inaugurated
the Educational Reform Committee, which sadly had no representative
from the GBPA. The MoE was informed about the omission but when the
invitation finally came, the committee had finished its report.’7
Free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE),
which seeks free and compulsory schooling from basic stage 1 through
9 for all school-age children by 2005, is now a constitutional requirement.
It is a publishing-oriented activity, yet policy makers only consult
the GBPA for their input when there is a problem. Before the new textbook
policy initiative, the MoE was to strengthen its Curriculum Research
and Development Division (CRDD) to undertake certain key roles such
as curriculum review and development, and the writing of syllabuses,
teachers’ handbooks and textbooks. The MoE used to assemble teachers
to undertake textbook writing and pay them an honorarium. Apart from
lacking training and experience in course writing, the authors might
have been dissatisfied with not receiving royalties and would not have
been likely to give of their best.
At some point, questions were raised as to why
the government preached privatization and divestiture of its share in
parastatals as a whole, but increased its involvement in book publishing.
Books must be allowed to compete amongst themselves so that high standards
of production and content relevance may be attained. The GBPA considers
that the CRDD's role should be limited to the writing of syllabuses
and to facilitating the involvement of publishers in the writing and
production of textbooks and teachers’ handbooks. Employees of
the CRDD are not publishing professionals, and that is why the GBPA
would like to be involved in the decision-making, implementation and
review process of the FCUBE programme.
In the mid-1970s, Ghana had one of the best public library networks
in Africa but, due to under-funding and neglect, services of this network
have deteriorated completely. Ghana's 110 districts do not all have
libraries. Recent efforts at revamping the service have been through
funding by the Carnegie Year 2000 Public Library Revitilization Programme
which covered seven African countries, including Ghana. The case for
school libraries is more deplorable. In some countries, eg. Botswana,
school library provision is part of the educational policy, and by law
must be provided in all schools;8 in addition,
school library services have been put under the management of the country's
public library service. These provisions do not exist in Ghana.
The new policy to privatize educational publishing
was announced in December 2001, at the 25th Annual Ghana Book Awards
ceremony in Accra organized by GBDC to honour deserving members of the
industry for their contributions. It was sponsored by six local publishers:
Afram Publications, Buck Press, Compuprint, EPP Books Services, Minerva
Books and Stationary Supplies and Unimax Macmillan. With this policy
change, the Ministry of Education has ceased to be publisher and distributor
of its own textbooks in consonance with the policy of the government
to make the private sector the engine of growth of the economy. The
policy is expected to be the Ministry's blueprint for streamlining the
procurement of textbooks and accompanying guides and manuals for the
basic schools, to be implemented in collaboration with publishers as
producers of the textbooks, and the Ministry as the purchasers.
Secondary education and book provision
The state education administrative body of today
is a large and increasingly decentralized structure. The Ministry of
Education is responsible for formulating educational policy, while the
Ghana Education Service (GES) is responsible for its implementation
at the pre-tertiary level (including secondary schools). The National
Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) implements policies at the tertiary
level, and the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) implements non-formal
education policy. The GES is represented in all ten regions and in all
110 districts of Ghana. Current priority issues in secondary education
are to:
• de-emphasize pure academic courses in
the curriculum and to promote the acquisition of vocational and technical
skills
• promote the establishment of community secondary schools based
in rural communities. The purpose of this is to create a shift from
boarding schools to day schools. This will eventually make it unnecessary
for people to send their children to boarding schools far away from
home
• emphasize the importance of science and technology. The establishment
of Science Resource Centres in every district is in fulfilment of this
policy. Almost all the districts in the country now have resource centres
• review the curriculum and link it up with courses and subjects
in tertiary institutions and other institutions of higher learning.
Conditions under which secondary school education
has been organized include the use of textbooks, which in most cases
are not available, and libraries that are not well stocked or contain
outdated material. Acquisition of books for libraries is erratic, and
if the need arises for budget cuts to be made, library funds are the
first to go. Unfortunately, the four priorities do not include a review
of the textbook situation, which is said to be inadequate, neither is
there any mention of school libraries, two of the most important pillars
on which all the priorities must be based.
The mechanism for achieving the desired pupil/textbook
ratio has been grossly overlooked. This is where the GBPA cries foul
when they are left out of the plans of MoE’s FCUBE programme.
If targets are to be achieved for the secondary school student population
of almost 600,000, the MoE will need approximately 1,800,000 volumes
for English, mathematics and science. At the rate of 2:1 in the 'other
subject' areas, this translates to 1,500,000 volumes, assuming there
are five other subjects chosen by each student. These figures are significant
for the publishing industry, especially when the requirements for additional
reading books and textbooks for primary pupils are added. One only hopes
that the US$70 million textbook project will be used to recapitalize
the private sector industry to produce the needed books, rather than
import them. The results may not be that fast, but at least the grounds
for a strong local industry would have been consolidated.
Conclusion
Economic liberalization and decreasing government
involvement in book publishing have created opportunities for publishers,
especially the local industry in Africa. As we have seen in Ghana, trends
in education policies and management in recent years also raise new
issues and areas that can be tapped by publishers and book development
actors. On the one hand, policies emerging from a liberalized set-up
have allowed local publishers to participate in, for instance, the World
Bank’s new policy of competitive bidding in the provision of textbooks
in its projects. On the other hand, the continued inability of local
publishers to access credit financing, and the high rates of interest
on borrowing have combined to frustrate attempts at fully exploiting
these opportunities. As Crabbe points out: ‘What could catalyze
the success of local publishing would be the clear articulation and
implementation of national book policies that would address some of
these problems?’9
Adequate book provision at an affordable and sustainable
price will depend on a proper sectorial analysis that will precede project
plans. The sectorial analysis should cover textbooks, library books,
and supplementary materials at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels
including technical and vocational, and adult literacy. Questions such
as authorship capacity, publishing, production control and techniques,
finance and managerial skills, manufacturing and binding, raw materials,
copyright, and trade policy (including protectionism) remain vital for
study.
Equally important are government policies that
promote the culture of reading for pleasure, and that expand and improve
public library networks. For instance, the Ghana Library Board, which
is responsible for the provision of public library services, is heavily
centralized (in the name of management of resources and staff) in Accra.
This calls for some element of decentralization and autonomy in the
regions and further in the districts, alongside increased funding to
ensure improvement of services. Conventional or traditional public libraries
should be supplemented by community information services as proposed
by Stilwell: 'services that really change the lives of their users through
the provision of survival information such as those related to health,
housing, income, legal protection, economic opportunity, and political
rights'.10 Integrated into library support programmes,
the buy-back model of Tanzania would ensure that part of the publisher's
print run is bought for libraries, thus guaranteeing partial or even
full recovery of the printing costs.11
Notes and references
1. Askerud, Pernille (1998)
‘Educational publishing and book provision’. In Altbach,
Philip & Damtew Teferra (eds.) Publishing and Development: a book
of readings. Chestnut Hill: Bellagio Publishing Network, pp 91-109.
Bellagio Studies in Publishing, 9.
2. Dekutsey (1993); Ofei, Eric (1997) ‘The state
of publishing in Ghana today’ Bellagio Publishing Network Newsletter,
no. 20, pp 14-17.
3. Brown, A.K., (1975) ‘State publishing in
Ghana: has it benefitted Ghana?’ In: Oluwasanmi, E et. al. (eds.)
Publishing in Africa in the 1970’s. Ile-Ife: University of Ife
Press, pp 113-127.
4. Cabutey-Adodoadji, E (1984) ‘Book development
and publishing in Ghana: an appraisal’. Libri, vol. 34 no. 2,
pp130-155.
5. Brown (1975)
6. Hasan (1993)
7 Ofei (1997:14)
8. Darko-Ampem, Kwasi (2000) ‘Revitalization
of the public library system in Botswana: the Botswana Library Association
as a team player.’ Paper presented at the Consultative Seminar
of Stakeholders, 11-14 December 2000. Boipuso Hall, Gaborone, Botswana.
9. Crabbe, Richard (2000), ‘Market trends in
the African book industry.’ In African Publishing Review, vol
9, no. 4, pp 4-5.
10. Stilwell, Christine (2001) ‘Community resource
centres’. In: Stilwell, Christine, Athol Leach, and Simon Burton
(eds.) Knowledge, Information and Development: an African perspective.
Peitermarizburg: School of Human and Social Studies, pp 200-214.
11. Bgoya, Walter (1999) ‘Publishing in Africa:
culture and development.’ In: Gibbs, J & J Mapanje (eds.)
The African Writers' Handbook. Oxford: African Books Collective, pp
59-84.
*This is an abridged version
of a longer annotated paper presented at the International Standing
Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) in Paris on July 10-13,
2002.
[end] [BPN, no 31, 2002, p. 19.]
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