National Security assistance has been recruited to ascertain how new state-supplied textbooks–bearing the stamps of some schools–are being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain, Education Minister Anthony Garcia says.
"The people doing this (selling) should be before the courts–it's an act of dishonesty," Garcia added at yesterday's post-Cabinet media conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
Garcia revealed the issue while reinforcing Government's decision to top-up supplies of textbooks to schools by only ten per cent.
He said when this was first done last year–rather than total replenishment of supply–there had been outcry and claims that some children didn't have books to go to school with. But deeming that "totally false", Garcia said Government did an audit of the situation and found there were large numbers of textbooks in all schools.
"Some principals even complained they didn't know where to put some textbooks they had–so there was an excess of textbooks in our schools...so the audit's results belied the claims of a book shortage," he said.
He said the ten per cent top-up would remain for levels from Infants to Standard Five and Forms One to Six and ensure adequate supplies.
But Garcia said the audit also revealed some impropriety in the procurement of textbooks, since the ministry received information that books–some brand new–bearing school stamps were being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain, including Charlotte Street. He said people had complained to the ministry about the act soon after the new administration took office.
"I can't say how much (books sold) but the fact is, there's evidence a number of these books are being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain," he said.
Asked how this had occurred, Garcia replied, "Well, heaven help me...what we know is those persons who're engaged in that practice should be brought before the courts, it's an act of dishonesty–these books should be residing in schools for use by our students.
"We've been receiving a number of suggestions, a number of people have suggested the cause–some suggest students who don't return books, (they) put them for sale on the streets.
"Others suggest some level of leakage in the schools. Remember, some principals complained they have a number of books which they cannot accommodate. It's being suggested–but also remember we don't have confirmation as yet, so I'm trying to use my words very guardedly–that out of that (number), you have some of those books being sold, brand new on Charlotte Street ...some of the books have school stamps on them."
Garcia added, "The third reason suggested is that it even came from the publishers. I don't want to bash any publishers, but there's reason to believe some textbooks weren't even distributed to the schools but the publishers received payment for those books."
He said books that didn't find their way to the schools, "...perhaps those books might be the ones being sold on the streets. So there are three possibilities advanced. I'm not sure what is exactly the correct thing."
Garcia said he intends liaising with the publishers' association to get to the bottom of it.
Discussions have already been held with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, who has agreed to supply "resources" to ascertain how the situation has come into being.
Garcia said the ministry hasn't yet quantified how much money has been lost through such leakage.
But the Minister said principals have been asked to ensure books are returned to schools after use and parents have to sign for this. He said a proper system for accountability must also be implemented in schools and school supervisors will also be asked to monitor systems to ensure the required number of books are sent to schools
"If there are excess books, we'll ask principals to return them and we'd decide where to distribute in event of shortages."
To further deal with impropriety in procurement, Garcia said the ministry had recommended establishing a Learning Material team comprising people experienced in the textbook field to examine all aspects of learning material.
Publishers–Not us
Book Industry Organisation of T&T (BIOTT) president Rico Charran yesterday expressed concern about Education Minister Anthony Garcia's statements regarding publishers in the issue.
"The Minister must be aware the procurement process has been very transparent and he doesn't appear to take into account all the factors that comprise the chain of supply for the textbook rental programme," Charran told the T&T Guardian.
"Textbooks ordered by the ministry are delivered to schools by publishers. Four delivery notes are stamped and signed by the schools. The documents are sent and verified by the Ministry and Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) before payment is issued to publishers. If a single book is missing the entire payment is withheld."
Charran added, It's counter- intuitive that he would say the free textbooks available to students are being sold on the street. Who would pay for free textbooks?
"Nevertheless, BIOTT welcomes the opportunity to meet the Minister and his team to review any recommendations on improving the textbook rental programme. We sincerely hope this can be done quickly given the fact the Ministry hasn't ordered any books for the upcoming term."
President of National Parent Teacher Association, Zena Ramathali, meanwhile said, "If this (selling books) is happening it would only be a small percentage of parents, as the vast majority purchase, but I'll investigate it."
T&T Unified Teachers Association president Devanand Sinanan said he wasn't in a position to confirm or deny Garcia's theories.
"I 'm a bit surprised to hear the Minister's allegations, I don't know the basis of statements,"
But Opposition MP Tim Gopeesingh, the former education minister, accused Garcia of using the book sale issue to distract from Government's reduced supply of books. The Opposition has a motion for debate on the Parliament agenda calling for urgent steps to ensure all students are provided with learning materials.