COMMENTARY: School Text Books – more questions and answers

In an earlier commentary title, School Text Books, Questions and Answers, I expressed concern at the number and cost of school text books. Now, just two weeks into the school year, parents of Third and Fourth Year secondary school students are finding that one of their purchases has already fallen to pieces. I refer to, Developing Language Skills – An English Course for Caribbean Secondary Schools (Books 3 & 4).

Both books are published by Royards Publishing Company, Trinidad. Book 3 contains 343 pages and retails at what I understand is a discounted price of EC$68.00. Discounted or not, the book is a rip-off. The binding is the shoddiest that I have ever seen. The pages are individually held together with glue, in the same way that a cheap note pad is held together. Consequently, as soon as the book is opened it falls apart.

The retailer cannot be blamed and I doubt that the book was printed and bound in Trinidad. However, it behoves the publisher to ensure that their books are up to standard. In recent years Far Eastern Countries have made considerable strides in the quality and cost of book printing and binding. To have had the job done properly would only cost a couple of dollars more per copy, especially when we are talking of print runs into the tens of thousands. It also behoves the Department of Education to verify the physical quality of a book before putting it on their list of required reading.

The Caribbean is all too often the dumping ground for inferior and outdated products. Either through apathy or complacency there is a reluctance to complain. I am usually told that I am the only one to bring an issue to the attention of management or supplier and hence, the inference that I am being unreasonable. However, this one is different. I understand, both from the local retailer and the Department of Education, that other parents who have shelled out their hard earned sixty-eight dollars are also up in arms.

This brings me again to the question: Do Third and Fourth Year students and teachers really need 343 pages of text to get through the year’s English Language syllabus? Given the number of students that leave school functionally illiterate, hefty text books are clearly not the answer. The subject might be taught more effectively from the blackboard.

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