The Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) has appealed to the Governor of Anambra State, His Excellency, Prof Charles Soludo to reconsider what it called “incessant review of books and academic materials” for primary and secondary schools in the state.
NPA while decrying the cost on Parents, guardians and the association, said such yearly review exercise by the government of Anambra State is in contravention of the National Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) policy which pegged review of primary school books at every six years and three years for secondary schools.
The President/Chairman-in-Council of NPA, Dr. Uchenna Cyril Anioke in a statement on Friday, urged the Anambra State Governor to take into account the financial burden of such reviews not only on the association’s members but as well as parents and guardians in the state.
According to Dr. Anioke, the state government had in 2022 carried out a review exercise of primary and secondary schools.
It followed it up with a fresh notice on Jan. 1, 2023 titled, “Guidelines to Publishers and Authors on the 2023-2024 Primary and Secondary Education Book Review Exercise” which NPA believes comes too soon after the previous exercise.
“Our appeal to His Excellency, Gov. Charles Soludo is to reconsider this yearly review which comes with huge financial cost on Parents and publishers. Despite not getting the needed support from the federal and state governments, members of our association toil so hard to shoulder the financial cost of the review of these academic materials.
“Additionally, with the increasing cost of production of these books, our members submit at least six copies of each title at no cost to the authorities each time a review is to take place.
“This will amount to a huge amount of money for someone submitting 100 titles for instance, in an environment where our members enjoy zero incentive”, the statement read in part.
Dr. Anioke stressed that allowing review exercise for three years for secondary schools and six years for primary schools as recommended by NERDC will also save parents the cost of having to purchase books for their children and wards yearly, especially those with more than one child in school.
Dr. Anioke stated that it was regrettable that every effort made by the NPA to have a conversation with the State Commissioner for Education has failed.
