By Praise Chinecherem
Anambra State Commissioner of Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Udeh has charged the state book reviewers to be thorough in their reviews, adhering strictly to laid down guidelines so that the best out of the lot submitted for review would be selected.
The commissioner gave the charge while flagging off the 2023/24 book review in preparation for the next academic session at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Education, Udorji Secretariate Awka.
She said that the annual book review is an innovation introduced by the Ministry to rid the state education system of substandard books
She posited that the motive behind the review is to ensure that textbooks recommended for use in schools are wholesome and packed with value.
Chuma-Udeh recalled that on the assumption of office, the set of recommended textbooks for schools lacked relevance and had nothing of value to add to the students.
She regretted that the books were ill-printed, ill-edited, and lacking education and moral significance.
She said when she queried this, a publisher said, “This is the standard Anambra could afford”.
“I saw this as unacceptable which invariably led to the constitution of an annual book review as a means of weeding out books that do not meet up to the standard set by the present regime for Anambra,” she added.
The Commissioner further charged the reviewers to tackle the task before them with utmost care and diligence as the state expects nothing but the best from them.
A member of the State book reviewers, Dr. Ikechukwu Asika appreciated the present administration for the ongoing reformation, re-structuring and dynamic innovations targeted at pushing education to its zenith in the state, a template he called on other states to copy for their educational space.
He assured on behalf of the committee, that they were going to be objective, critical and thorough in carrying out the book review, adding they would also follow the guidelines given for the task as the state book reviewers for the 2023/24 academic session.
