As part of continued efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning outcomes in public and private schools, the Lagos State Government has released the year 2020-2023 Approved Booklist for Public and Private Schools across the State.
An official statement signed by the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo on Thursday stated that books play a very significant role in the acquisition of quality education and are also indispensable tools to teachers and students, thereby concerted efforts were made by the Ministry to ensure the release of a unified booklist for all classes.
Mrs. Adefisayo added that the proliferation of books in the education sector made it essential to scrutinise and select value-adding textbooks that would be circulated in schools across the State, in order to eliminate those that are substandard in content and unsuitable for the students’ consumption.
The Commissioner averred that the Ministry, through its Curriculum Services Department, conducts review of books triennially (every three years) during an exercise tagged “Major Book Review”, through appraisal of textbooks submitted by publishers and authors.
In her words: “Through a highly competitive and transparent process, hundreds of vastly experienced teachers are drawn from both public and reputable private schools to read and rate the books submitted using a set of rating scales to determine the ones that meet the prescribed standards”.
While stressing that only content-rich textbooks and those written in line with the National Curriculum and Lagos State Unified Schemes of Work are selected to make the booklist, she declared that the practice is to engender the inculcation of 21st century skills in the learners.
Speaking on the distribution process, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Abosede Adelaja, implored administrators of public and private schools to visit the Curriculum Services Department of the Ministry to pick up the Approved Booklist for all classes (Pre-Primary, Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary) and work with the specified books for uniformity and purpose to enhance the learning process of students.
Adelaja reiterated the commitment of Lagos State towards ensuring that no child is left behind while high teaching and learning standards are achieved through the State education and technology agenda.
