The textbooks abracadabra, By Ugoji Egbujo

Perhaps our biggest national challenge is how to improve the quality of education and make quality education accessible. That is why it’s heart-rending that the government can sit and watch this perfidy that raises the cost of education for poor families to go unchecked. How can the system allow these sophisticated tapeworms to burrow into the bowels? 

Agberos have seized textbook writing and publishing.

In those days, siblings shared books. Older siblings wrapped their textbooks with brown paper and powdered the pages so that the books could remain clean and fresh, preserved for younger siblings. But that has changed. 

These woke days, textbooks expire like vegetables. A particular conspiracy makes sure siblings can’t share books. In most schools, the cost of textbooks has been made part of the school fees. When schools were schools and not business outfits, parents bought textbooks and children brought them to school for teachers to inspect. But now, schools have acquired commercial instincts. They insist on buying books for students. So they force parents to pay for textbooks they already have. And these school fees must be paid in full before resumption. 

So, three siblings born one year between them can be in the same school, and by the time the oldest finishes primary one, the second can’t use his maths textbook. Wait for it. By the time the three finish primary one, the family might have three different primary one textbooks. It’s comical. The schools work hand-in-hand with publishers to reap off parents, to fill homes with useless textbooks. While this happens, the schools’ boards and supervising ministries stay aloof. Or do they?

…the authors and publishers aren’t bothered about knowledge. Their motivation is money. So once they switch around the words and pages, they prevent students from using the copies which have already been sold. They sit in their offices and make them expire, so they can sell tons of the same books as new books.

It’s a huge scandal. Here is how it works. A man masquerading as an author writes a book. He approaches the Ministry of Education through friends and family. A sizeable politician is indispensable. The book is assessed. Most times, private financial negotiations take place. Most times, the publishers orchestrate the manoeuvre. The book is recommended to be used as a textbook in schools in the State. Once listed, the author and publisher organise a thanksgiving for men and God. 

After barely one year, the author, in collusion with the publisher, rearranges some words and pages and baptises it as the second edition. Effectively, they classify the edition of the previous year as technically obsolete. They are not bothered by the fact that at the lower levels of school education, facts don’t change that fast. In agriculture, economics, biology, chemistry, at the primary and secondary school levels, fundamental epistemological changes happen slowly. But the authors and publishers aren’t bothered about knowledge. Their motivation is money. So once they switch around the words and pages, they prevent students from using the copies which have already been sold. They sit in their offices and make them expire, so they can sell tons of the same books as new books.

The schools know the truth. The teachers read the books. They could have resisted the perfidy. But it’s a grand conspiracy. So, despite knowing that no fundamental changes came with the new farcical editions, the schools insist on the new and discard the old. Some parents know but feel helpless. Most parent’s don’t know; they are too busy to read the children’s books. So they don’t resist the schools. 

The Ministries of Education aren’t aloof. They are neck-deep in the game. The publishers lobby to have their books on the list. Then they birth new editions every year. If the books are literature books, then new editions won’t help much. The Ministries of Education juggle the books. They feature them for one or two years, take them out of the syllabus and bring them back later.

But the schools have to make sure they are not denied their share of the heist. So, the schools become buyers of the books for their students. As such, they get their slice of the bounty from the publishers without stories but paying for the books at an arranged discount. 

The Ministries of Education aren’t aloof. They are neck-deep in the game. The publishers lobby to have their books on the list. Then they birth new editions every year. If the books are literature books, then new editions won’t help much. The Ministries of Education juggle the books. They feature them for one or two years, take them out of the syllabus and bring them back later.

Perhaps our biggest national challenge is how to improve the quality of education and make quality education accessible. That is why it’s heart-rending that the government can sit and watch this perfidy that raises the cost of education for poor families to go unchecked. How can the system allow these sophisticated tapeworms to burrow into the bowels?