From the next academic year, all textbooks needed by schools in the country will be printed locally, Deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said.

To this end, eight local firms have been shortlisted after a tender process.

The move is part of a policy by the government to end the current situation where majority of textbooks and exercise books needed by schools are printed by foreign firms.

The Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association (GPPCA) has welcomed the move saying it will provide about 1000 jobs in the industry.

“The new policy is that all textbooks must be printed locally, enough of the printing of textbooks outside, so, what we have done is to carry out an inspection of the capacity of our local printers and we were really impressed with the capacity that is available in this country; they have some of the modern equipment that you’ll find anywhere else in this world and so what we have done is to float a tender, they have applied, our experts have carried out a shortlisting and eight of these local printing firms have been selected and they are going to print all our textbooks, and I emphasise all, 100%, we are not going back to the era where you print just 13% or 9% locally and the rest is printed outside,” Mr Ablakwa told journalists.