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Coalition Gov’t failed to deliver 71% of textbooks purchased for schools – Auditor General
Kaieteur News – The Auditor General (AG), in a Performance Audit Report on the receipt, storage and distributions of textbooks to schools, has indicated that during the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) administration 71 percent of 303,422 textbooks requested by schools in Regions Two, Four, Six and Seven for the years 2017 and 2018 were undelivered.
The Performance Audit which was conducted to find out how well the Ministry of Education had managed the distribution of textbooks to meet the needs of schools stated that millions were spent to purchase these books.
Termites damaged textbooks at Soesdyke Secondary School (Audit Office of Guyana)
Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, said over the years, there were large budgetary allocations for the procurement of textbooks for schools countrywide. For the years 2017 and 2018, the Ministry expended over $989M on primary and secondary education. Although large sums of money were expended, stakeholders complained of insufficient textbooks at the schools which resulted in parents purchasing textbooks for their children.
Previous Auditor General Reports commented on many deficiencies related to the provision of textbooks and continued breaches of the Procurement Act 2003 and the Stores Regulations, this prompted the performance audit.
The Audit Report highlighted that of the 71 percent, there was stock-out of core textbooks for long periods at the Book Distribution Unit and that there were 17 schools which had over 5,000 excess, unused textbooks stored, while many other schools had shortages of the same textbooks.
“As a result, textbooks were not being used efficiently as intended by the Ministry, whose objective is to have equitable allocation and distribution of textbooks at schools,” the Report stated.
The audit found too that the Ministry failed to give schools thousands of textbooks requested. It highlighted that this caused shortages of textbooks at primary and secondary schools, as each learner could not receive a textbook for core subjects, as required in the Ministry’s Book Policy.
In addition to the unused books, the AG found that rats and termites damaged textbooks which were stored at the Suddie, Soesdyke and New Amsterdam Primary schools. Flagging the issue, the AG indicated that this is a health hazard to both learners and teachers.
The Audit Office made 16 recommendations to management for improvements. Of the recommendations, the Office recommends that the Ministry and the Procurement Officer ensure proper contract management for the procurement and prompt delivery of textbooks to avoid textbook shortages in schools.
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