For the past few weeks, concerns have been raised by Ghanaians after some textbooks showed on the market purported to have been approved into the education curriculum.
Although there has been a disclaimer from NaCCA indicating the said books are unapproved, the content of some is described as degrading and distasteful of the Ewe tribe.
Answering questions on the floor of Parliament, Dr. Yaw Adutwum said the government will expedite action on the Ghana Book Development Bill adding that it will deal with such cases in the future.
"The Ghana Book Development Council Bill has those provisions for sanctions to be taken against publishers like this.
Unfortunately,...the NaCCA Act does not make provision for that, so, inasmuch as you are scandalised and you do not want to see these things happening, in terms of the legal framework in which NaCCA operates, they do not have the room to do that but the Book Development Council is going to cure this deficiency," he said.
About Efo juju book
A Class 4 English textbook authored by Badu Nkansah and Okyere Baafi Alexander incurred the wrath of Ewes.
The Primary 4 English textbook is titled Golden English Basic 4 and has a sentence in it that deepens the stereotyping of the Ewe tribe as 'juju' loving people.
In strand 4 of the textbook which teaches writing, there was a part that instructs the pupils to copy this sentence "Efo agreed and prepared juju for the players".
Efo is an adult male in the Ewe language and a national slang word for all-male Ewes.
However, the Volta Regional House of Chiefs has condemned the publication of offensive learning materials designed for the use of pupils in the Lower Primary against Ewes, demanding its destruction.
The House of Chiefs in a statement said that "Some of the contents of the said book, which cast derogatory allusions and innuendos at Ewes, are, to say the least, distasteful and a disgrace to the authors and publishers of the said material intended to educate the younger generation of this country."
The chiefs "deem if highly reprehensible for those responsible for this offensive publication, to harbour such vile thoughts about their fellow citizens of Ghana in the twenty-first century."