Education Minister satisfied with ability of local book printers

The Minister of Education, Mr Lee Ocran, is impressed with the capacity of local printers to print textbooks for basic schools in the country.

He said he was happy and impressed with the calibre of personnel, facilities, equipment and the finished products of the local firms.

He made the observation during a tour of some local printing houses in Accra Thursday, to acquaint himself with their capacity, quality and period of printing, delivery of printed materials, among other things.

The printing houses toured were the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Sec-Print Ghana Limited and Buck Press Limited.

Mr Ocran was accompanied by the President of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association, Mr James Appiah-Berko, and some officials of the Education Ministry.

There are about five million pupils in basic schools across the country and the policy of the ministry is to ensure that each child has a textbook.

The minister wondered why, after 55 years of independence, Ghana was not making use of its local printers and had to look to foreign countries for the printing of textbooks for schools.

Mr Ocran said that was unacceptable, since there was the need to involve local printers to create opportunities for Ghanaians, as well as challenge the local printers to do quality jobs.

He said giving part of the printing to local firms would also boost the local economy in general.

That, he said, was why the ministry inserted a clause in the tender that 40 per cent of textbooks be printed locally.
He said there had been some objections to that decision, with some people arguing that local printers did not have the capacity to deliver.

That, he said, was why he decided to visit  some local printing houses to have a look at their operations.

Mr Ocran said the government wanted local printers to be actively involved in the printing of textbooks, adding, “We have confidence in the Ghanaian.”

He said when local printers made mistakes in the course of printing, they would learn from those mistakes, thereby leading to perfection next time.

Source: Daily Graphic