Action for Education (Educa) president Elena Viyella de Paliza and Maria Teresa Cabrera from the Coalition for Dignified Education, said yesterday Sunday 18 August that they oppose the yearly change in textbooks. They were also critical of the deficient handling by the Ministry of Education, the entity that should monitor the control of teaching materials used in both public and private schools.
“There is no need to change the texts every year. Subjects like science and history might require some updating, but the rest, like mathematics and language, should remain the same,” stated Viyella. She pointed out that texts are reused in every country. The president of Educa argued for encouraging more commercial competition to ensure better printing offers for the material, which would reduce the price in the long term. But above all else, Viyella believes that the key to resolving the educational problems is to improve the very system from a holistic point of view. The improvements should go especially to public education because this is where most children study. “As you improve the public educational system, you are improving and facilitating access to education for everyone,” she said.
Maria Teresa Cabrera criticized the fact that the authorities seem to ignore the issue of the textbooks, when it is their role to decide when they are changed or not. Cabrera does not see any justification for making a change each year, saying that they are responding to an interest to make money. For this reason, she stated that the authorities should seriously consider educational improvements for everyone, to prevent these sectors from taking measures that affect the people.
She also commented on last week’s statement made by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Abel Martinez, who criticized the increases in the cost of schoolbooks, which he attributed to a “mafia”. According to Cabrera, the authorities’ role is not to complain but to resolve the problems.