Three ways to improve the quality of books for primary school age children?

isaac anyaogu
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read

There are concerns by parents and educators about the quality of books approved for primary age children in Nigeria.

And their concerns are valid.

A child will need a therapy after this kind of learning

Some of the parents, we spoke to said some books recommended for their children are riddled with grammatical errors, inappropriate pictures and are poorly printed. Since books are fundamental to acquiring knowledge, a low quality book will impact education negatively. These are three actions that can help:

Look beyond grammar, morals count too

Some books approved for school-age children in Nigeria contain provocative images of human body parts presented with little thought for discretion.

Therefore, books presented for approval must not contain offensive images. All efforts should be made to protect pre-teens from images and texts that distort standards of moral conduct.

Many educators say that parents have the obligation to teach their children sex education, so books on biology should be limited to functions of body parts.

Merit works, every time.

Nigeria’s ministry of education approves books used for external examinations such as the West African Council Examinations (WEAC) and its general certificate equivalent.

However state governments approve the books used at primary school level and this is where it gets tricky. Some say books are approved are based on criteria beyond merit. For some, it could be their connections with officials at the education ministry or some bribe corrupt officials.

This calls for a stronger approval process to deal with challenge.

Better models for selecting educational books

In many places, a school board looks at the proposed books for primary school age children and a committee of educators are invited to review these books. The school board selects the book based on their recommendations.

As safeguards, the names of the committee members are not disclosed to the general public. Teams are selected to review different books with another independent panel reviewing the work of the committee and the reasons for their recommendations.

The goals of education are basis approving the recommendations made.

#OurchildrenTheirbooks

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isaac anyaogu
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