Accra (Greater Accra), 2 Mar. '99 -

The Ministry of Education, has awarded a 22 billion-Cedi contract to 25 Ghanaian publishing companies to print 4.5 million copies of supplementary readers for primary and junior Secondary Schools in the country. The contract, the first in the history of the publishing industry in Ghana is part of a programme by the Ministry to provide reading material for basic schools. It is being undertaken with a ? 7 million grant from the British Department for International Development. Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, said this when representatives of the Ghana Book Publishers Association, called on him to express their gratitude for the ministry's efforts in promoting and sustaining the local publishing and printing industry. They discussed issues affecting the industry, especially the cost of producing textbooks locally, release of the new basic school syllabus on time to enable publishers to print new textbooks, and the involvement of the association in policies on textbooks. The publishers asked the Ministry to furnish it with its text book policy for the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education programme to enable them to ensure that books published satisfy the criteria. It would also enable them to plan and complete their publishing projects on schedule. Mr Spio-Garbrah commended the association for it's important role in the education sector and said the Ministry will look into the issues raised by the association and come out with workable solutions.