THE quality and accuracy of school textbooks have again come under scrutiny.
Recently, a tuition teacher Boo Soon Yew alleged that the diagrams shown on pages 156 and 159 of the Physics textbook for Form Five were the opposite with regard to the direction of deflection of the galvanometer.
“Both teachers and students of Physics have always known that the direction of galvanometer deflection follows the direction of electrical current.
“What is damaging is that this same error will be perpetuated by students (as the way they were taught in schools), and will definitely be called out when they are in a post-Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) syllabus which follows the universal rule of the centre-zero galvanometer deflection being in accordance with the direction of current,” he wrote in a letter to StarEdu last month.
When contacted, the ministry’s Textbook Division denied that a mistake had been made, although it acknowledged that the direction of deflection of the galvanometer needle is the opposite of the direction of the induced current produced, according to Lenz’s law.
Boo’s complaint came hot on the heels of a mistake in a Form Five History reference book that had labelled a picture of E.E.C. “Clough” Thuraisingham as “V.T. Sambanthan”.
In October, Tun Sambanthan’s daughter Deva Kunjari had expressed shock over the book, which mentioned her father, but used a photograph of Thuraisingham, colonial Malaya’s first education minister.
“I am appalled. Not only did they address my father without his title, but they also placed someone else’s photograph,” she had said in a Facebook post.
Former education minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin, who responded last month, explained that the ministry only has jurisdiction over books that it publishes.
The ministry has since stressed that the writing and publication of its school textbooks undergo a meticulous process.
Most of the mistakes that had gone viral, it said, were in reference books published by private publishers.
The ministry’s Education Resources and Technology (BTSP) Quality and Production Policy Cluster senior deputy director Ab Aziz Mamat said there are many steps and procedures that go into the creation and publication of textbooks used in the national syllabus.
Firstly, the textbooks are in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Standard Document (DSKP) that is produced by the Curriculum Development Division, and are written “in the spirit of the National Education Philosophy”.
The ministry also places a strong emphasis on avoiding elements or topics that are sensitive as we are a multiracial and multireligious society, he said during an interview on DidikTV on Dec 3.
“(There are) no stereotypes, prejudice material or the writer’s own views and values (in the books),” he said, adding that the topics chosen are not discriminatory or do not go against moral values of our society.
“We also avoid subversive elements that could harm the well-being of the country or advertising of any sorts,” he said.
Internal engagement sessions involving various sections such as the Islamic Education section and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the Curriculum Development Division are carried out to prevent inaccurate or offensive content from being published.
Ab Aziz said they also engage with stakeholders such as parents, teachers and industry to ensure acceptability.
“Our teachers, university lecturers and experts also give their input because creating a book requires a lot of expertise,” he said, adding that History books go through an additional step whereby a separate panel of experts, chosen by the Education Minister, is tasked with verifying the facts in the books, so that they are 100% accurate and as we want them to be remembered.
The textbooks are also compared to other local and international publications to identify our weaknesses and strengths, Ab Aziz added.
The entire review process is carried out at the end of every curriculum cycle. The current Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) syllabus, which parents and the public have complaint is too heavy and complex, is being reviewed now that it has completed its cycle. The cycle came to an end when Year One pupils in 2017 completed Year Six in 2022.
“This is so that we can produce a textbook that is better than the one we had developed,” Ab Aziz said.
