Ministry targets book list abuse

JAMAICA’S education authorities are moving to rein in controversial school book lists after a special review found that some lists issued to parents do not match those approved by the ministry. Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says an electronic system is being developed to prevent such discrepancies, amid mounting complaints annually about lengthy and expensive book lists. The issue has dominated the news over the past few weeks, resulting in the ministry indicating that it would review schools’ textbook lists to ensure that only essential, high-quality texts are required, given agitation about escalating back-to-school costs. Following on those indications Morris-Dixon, in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer, said the measures contemplated will address not just the expense but also waste. “Sometimes the books are not used. I have seen it too where you look through the book at the end of the year and you are like ‘Wait a minute, I spent all this money on this book and it was not being used’, and so I sympathise with parents,” Morris-Dixon said. “I spoke to the ministry team, they put together a team to relook the book lists — because book lists have to be approved by the ministry — and we have seen some instances where the book list that the parent gets is not necessarily looking like what we have approved, so we are actually putting in place an electronic system that the schools will have to upload their book lists to. We will go through it and we will make the necessary adjustments,” Morris-Dixon disclosed. She said the ministry is also mulling whether it could further absorb more of the costs which parents now bear. “We are also looking at whether or not it is possible — we already spend about a billion dollars on books — to add some more books in terms of the [government-provided book] programme to support students, but obviously that’s another financial expense,” the education minister told the Observer.

MORRIS-DIXON... we have seen some instances where the book list that the parent gets is not necessarily looking like what we have approved (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Noting that the ministry, at present, provides textbooks for core subjects for grades four to six students in primary schools, Morris-Dixon said the intent is to explore whether or not it “could add to the number of books that are already provided”. “So we are exploring it, and we are looking at all different methods that we can use, but what we are thinking is: The approval process for the book list, it’s important that we tighten that up and change the process so that we in the ministry review it prior to it getting to the parents, and we can look to see whether it’s an unnecessary burden, and also looking at the extent to which we could probably give more books to the schools,” she explained. Recently, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness addressed the issue, saying that he had received complaints from parents. “Many parents have said, ‘Prime Minister, why am I being asked to purchase so many books that my child who is in the grade below… when I purchased them last year… didn’t use at all? When I see the book list for this year, it’s a totally different book list and I can’t use those books again,’ ” Holness said during the Office of the Prime Minister and Office of the Cabinet Primary Exit Profile Awards Ceremony. “Then there are other parents who said to me, ‘Prime Minister, I have family who live overseas and nobody’s using books. All the books are on tablets and computers; they’re all e-books.’ So there has to be a consideration of a more economical approach without losing the value of books,” he added. The prime minister emphasised that books remain an essential part of the learning process and stressed that the Government is not seeking to diminish their importance in education. The education minister, in the meantime, told the Observer that the use of the electronic books sourced by the Government in 2022 has also been contemplated in the search for solutions, but said this measure would need more thought. “We do have e-books but what we found, we did some work and the e-books are not being used, and so we know probably the students don’t have the devices to use it, and we also want to limit device use in schools, so it’s a delicate balance. We know the e-books could solve one problem, but you may create other problems, so we are obviously trying to be very balanced in the way we move forward,” Morris-Dixon told the Observer.