Publishers should emphasize on professionalism on their mandate

Just as none can give a horse his strength and clothe his neck with a flowing mane, man cannot recall words already spoken.

This is also akin to books that have already been published and sold, or distributed to different various to different students.

 Recalling books with no specific points of distribution, but are being channeled to individuals may be a daunting task. Due diligence therefore needs to be taken during publishing so that thorough edition is done before such distribution are expedited.

The gist of professionalism also calls for owning up when a mistake has occurred especially on the part of the decision movers. This has been exhibited when Education CS Amina Mohammed owned up that 33 million books procured by the Government for the new syllabus had multiple errors. This did not make her less of human; if anything it enriched her public image.

It therefore defeats logic for the Kenya publishers Association chairman Lawrence Njagi to trade barbs with those who criticize the lapse exhibited by the publishers in their work.

 It is a grave mistake that would have an impact on many young learners. The assertion by Mr Njagi that what the young learners like the Class Two pupils consume in terms of knowledge should not be subjected to criticism, save for only what Form Four students consume; is an abuse to academia and quality standards.

Education is holistic and needs proper foundation to be laid so that the upper levels are soundly secured. This means that quality standards should be maintained at all levels.

What the public expected the chairman to have done was for him to accept the mistakes and apologise instead of trying to sanitize a glaring error, before looking into ways of undoing the errors.

 Education is a sensitive sector and it impacts the entire life of a child. This implies that whatever it entails must be addressed amicably. What Kenyans are still oblivious to is who would bear the cost of reproducing the 33 million books.

If the negligence of the publishers could be left unchecked, leading to loss of taxpayers’ money, then some people should be punished for it. Taxpayers should not pay twice for one item at the behest of negligence.