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Basic Education

Textbook plan in motion

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:43

In a bid to end the chaos of text book shortages, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced in April that she would establish an agency in her department to centralise the procurement of teaching materials such as textbooks. Siyavula, the Shuttleworth Foundation incubated project that aims to provide free and open access to textbooks and learning resources, has come out in support of this initiative.

They will be submitting their openly licensed Mathematics and Physical Sciences textbooks, which can be read on a mobile phone and freely downloaded, to the Department of Basic Education as part of the review process for the new National Catalogue.

For years, teaching at public schools has been compromised by the late or non-delivery of textbooks and the delays in the supply of essential teaching aids. Now, the department has set aside R4.4 billion for the development of textbooks and has put risk management plans in place to ensure that the process is concluded in time.

The conventional publishing model for textbooks presents significant problems for education in the developing world. It has resulted in an environment in which textbooks are prohibitively expensive and not appropriate for all contexts.

Says Mark Horner, Siyavula spokesperson, "The Department of Basic Education has indicated that they aim to put a text book in the hands of each learner and educator by next year - Siyavula can hasten this plan so that the goal is realised far sooner than the 2012 due date as set by the minister".

Says Horner, "Because we released these textbooks online, under an open copyright license, they can be freely read on a mobile phone. If they make it onto the approved textbook list for 2012, any learner will be able to read their prescribed textbook on their mobile phone, whether in class, on the bus or at home. Best of all, they could implement this tomorrow if they needed to."

"In addition to this, these maths and science textbooks can be freely downloaded by learners and educators from the Siyavula website. The open copyright license allows educators to legally copy, change, print and distribute them."

The ongoing text book shortages have plagued the South African education system for more than a decade due to issues such as mismanagement and lack of budget. Says Horner, "By providing free and open textbooks aligned with the national curriculum, Siyavula aims to support the government in their drive to ensure all learners and educators have access to text books."