The Voices against Tribalism (VaT) group has condemned the publications of learning materials for basic schools that encouraged ethnocentrism and misinformation of the Ghanaian culture.
The group in a statement made said that: “It is unfortunate that the people who should bear the burden of enlightening our children are in dire need of enlightenment”.
“Our nation Ghana has thrived on our multicultural coexistence and any attempt to undermine that deliberately or out of ignorance is condemned. Bigotry is bigotry and there is no need to be diplomatic about it,” it stated.
They described the textbooks as “an affront on the cultural dignity of the people it sought to describe”.
Chairman of the group, Cephas Kojo Asimadi indicated that: “the content, as captured in the textbooks for basic school learning should really be tackled swiftly to prevent future occurrences’”.
In the past few days, the general public and Members of Parliament have registered their displeasure and strongly criticised the contents of two textbooks; ‘History of Ghana’ and ‘Golden English’ authored by Badu Nkansah and Okyere Baafi Alexander respectively.
According to the social development, research and advocacy-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the provision of such textbooks for pupils in some Primary schools seek to undermine multicultural coexistence enjoyed several years by Ghanaians, and therefore called for “the immediate withdrawal of the textbooks from the market”.
It has also asked that “the institutions charged with duties of monitoring and evaluating contents for educational purposes to ensure they are fit-for-purpose materials that foster decency, tolerance of cultural diversity and promote national development”.
In addition, the group is further requesting that the public be notified on the corrections made to these said textbooks after withdrawal.
