Reconsider yearly review of school books, publishers urge Soludo

The Nigerian Publishers Association, on Monday, appealed to the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to reconsider what it called an incessant review of books and academic materials for primary and secondary schools in the state.

It was reported that the state government had in 2021 carried out a review of primary school books, which are still running, and also carried out such exercises for junior and senior secondary schools in 2022.

The NPA, in a statement by its President/Chairman-in-Council, Uchenna Anioke, in Ibadan, further urged the Anambra governor to take into account the financial burden of such reviews not only on the association’s members but also on parents and guardians in the state.

He decried the cost on parents, guardians and the association, adding that such exercise by the government is in contravention of the National Education Research and Development Council policy which pegs review of primary school books at every six years and three years for secondary schools.

Anioke said, “The state government carried out a review in 2021 and 2022, respectively. It followed it up with a fresh notice on February 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 exercises.

“Our appeal to Governor Soludo is to reconsider this yearly review which comes with huge financial costs 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.

“Allowing a review exercise for three years for secondary schools and six years for primary schools as recommended by NERDC will also save parents and guardians the cost of having to purchase books for their children and wards yearly, especially those with more than one child in school.”