The government said today there was no sabotage as alleged in the case of errors found in 400,000 textbooks for Year One English in the primary school curriculum.

Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong said the mistakes occurred due to lack of time in compiling the contents and printing the books.

“An investigation panel set up by the ministry found no element of sabotage as alleged,” he said when replying to a question by Senator Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor in the Dewan Negara. Mohamad Ezam had wanted to know whether there was any sabotage.

Wee said the cost of reprinting and redistribution of the books was RM1.87 million and not RM3 million as alleged and that the cost was borne by the publishers.

He said almost 97 percent of the books had been distributed to schools in the peninsula since March 31 while distribution in Sabah and Sarawak was expected to be completed by the middle of next month.

He also said that the ministry had adopted several measures to prevent a recurrence of the errors, including tightening the publication process and appointing an evaluation/quality control committee and a readers committee comprising educational experts.

“The ministry will also undertake continuous monitoring of the publication, printing and distribution of textbooks,” he added.

 

- Bernama