This is part of efforts towards ensuring that students are exposed to books that are in consonance with the national minimum standard, as benchmarked in the National Curriculum and Lagos State Unified Schemes of Work.

In an official statement by the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, the exercise which comes up every three years, is to ensure Publishers and Authors align their textbooks and publications with the National Curriculum and Unified Schemes of Work for Primary and Secondary Schools.

Furthermore, she said the exercise would afford Publishers and Authors to provide rich contents that would facilitate qualitative teaching and learning processes which would engineer the inculcation of 21st-Century skills in the learners.

Adefisayo maintained that the Major Book Review provides Government with the opportunity to assess/censor books that would be circulated in Schools across the State, thereby eliminating those that are substandard in content and unsuitable for students’ consumption.

“The Review, which usually has over 50,000 Books submitted, culminates in the production of approved Booklists from which Schools in the State draw their respective Booklists for their individual schools”, she submitted.

Speaking on the process of registration, the Permanent Secretary revealed that registration had commenced since February 12th, 2020 and that interested Publishers/Authors are expected to register via the link https://forms.gle/22Khrh9sP8sxmggT7 after which they will submit five copies each of their Books to the Curriculum Services Department of the State Ministry of Education.

The Commissioner also disclosed that the Review is to be carried out by experienced teachers from Public and Private Schools after they must have been orientated according to the procedures, guidelines, and compliance with the National Curriculum.

She also affirmed that selected Books after review will form the approved Booklist for Y2020-2023, adding that the Books will be showcased at a designated venue where Parents, Teachers and Proprietors/Proprietresses will interact with Publishers/Authors directly and select their choices.