Ndebele Science textbook recalled

THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has said textbooks that have language and grammatical mistakes should be removed from schools and taken back to suppliers.

This comes amid concerns that a Grade One science textbook in isiNdebele has grammatical and spelling mistakes.

For instance the book wrongly spells indlebe (ear) by putting it as indleve while ikhanda (head) is written as amakhanda.

The text book titled Step In, Environmental Science, Grade 1 Learners Book, which was co-authored by Blessing Chabikwa, Luigina Shaw and David Witt, has widely been criticised.

In an interview this week, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s Permanent Secretary Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango said she had received complaints on the book.

“I’ve not seen the book myself but you are not the first one to phone concerning that book. If it’s a consignment with errors, the books must be returned to suppliers. The schools that bought those books should return them,” said Dr Utete-Masango.

She said the Ministry’s Curriculum Development Department headed by Mrs Tumisang Thabela, who was appointed recently, should in future work to prevent such mistakes.

“Mrs Thabela is a linguist and she speaks more than six languages so she should be able vet most of these books. The approval is done by her department,” she said.

Mr Pathisa Nyathi said publishers of the book made a grave mistakes.

“The publishers did not care because we have many people who could have assisted them,” he said.

BY Nqobile Tshili