Pernille Askerud
Textbooks for developing economies: Why projects fail?
adapted from Logos 9/2 1998

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Throughout the fluctuating debates of the past fifty years on developing economies, one principle has never been challenged: improving education is the key to a better life. And among those concerned with improving education - Ministries of Education, aid agencies, teachers, librarians and publishers - there has never been serious disagreement that books are a primary tool. Untold millions of dollars have been poured into textbook projects. But no one can claim to have uncovered the secret of establishing sustainable book provision programmes. Do they need better application of technology? Do they suffer from too much government control? Or too little participation by private enterprise? Or is it impossible to keep pace with the explosive growth of education?

Whatever the reason, while many text-book projects have been pronounced successful against their own terms of reference, a stark statistic says the opposite: the number of books per pupil in developing countries has fallen since 1975.

Hence the book situation is bad in many countries of the world but the problems involved are not quite the same everywhere. Many developing countries have simply no tradition for publishing and printing and demand for books have generally been limited to a small elite. In these countries illiteracy rates were until very recently very high - in some cases they are still high; the country and its population are poor - books and reading are hardly ever high on the Government’s list of priorities. In these countries, the specialised skills needed in publishing, printing and book dissemination are lacking and there is often not a general demand for books and other printed material among the wider population. This of course makes it very difficult to build up a publishing industry. In effect, the school system becomes the only real vehicle for book development and reading promotion.

In countries that have suffered great political and economic changes the situation is different. The former Soviet republics have in general a strong tradition for books and reading and high literacy rates. Schools in general had good access to books, and the library system was effective and highly developed. As Russian was forced through as a lingua franca and very much used for instruction in schools and higher education institutions, all the Soviet republics could benefit from the fact that Russia was one of the big publishing nations in the world. It is true that during the recent economic transition period book availability in some countries have become as poor as it is in many developing countries but the in terms of the book sector, the situation is not the same.

In recent year the Governments of Central Asian/Central European countries have privatised the development, production and distribution of textbooks and other educational materials, and in spite of economic difficulties the Governments are still trying to provide textbooks and other educational materials free of charge (- often supported by World Bank or other foreign loans). For that reason the Government is still the most important source of cash-flow in the book sector.

In this role the Governments of transition economies and developing economies are experiencing much the same problems in respect of textbook provision programmes, notably in relation to efforts to make these programmes sustainable. The underlying reason for the Governments’ difficulties in this area is primarily the particular configuration and (lacking) strength of the private sector capacity in the areas of publishing, printing and book dissemination. Whereas many developing economies are facing the task of developing a whole industry and a market from scratch, the problems in countries of Central Asia and Central Europe are in particular related to the business aspects of printing and publishing which are not sufficiently understood, and to a lacking understanding of the important professional function of a publisher to the quality, effectiveness, and relevance of the books produced in a market driven publishing industry.

In all countries there is in addition a need for further developing the skills of effective development of manuscripts to underpin the revised curricula.

I became involved with this question in the 1980s through my responsibility for UNESCO's book activities in Asia and the Pacific. At one point I felt that the development of new technology (including desktop publishing) was the answer, enabling, as it does, production of quality typeset books, with less equipment, fewer skills and reduced costs. I became an "instant" expert and increasingly involved myself in teaching officials from Ministries of Education how to use desktop publishing techniques for the preparation of camera-ready copies of textbooks. This kind of short-term training is still very popular, but the expectations of the effect of it are often ridiculously exaggerated. I now see desk-top publishing as only a minor element in training. I have become convinced that the way that most textbook programmes are designed, the book situation in many developing countries would never improve. Every project to strengthen book provision seems to be a one-off. Addressing issues such as lack of editorial skills, paper shortage, equipment deficiencies or distribution, we find ourselves alleviating symptoms instead of tackling the malaise.

My concern led to involvement with the EFA Forum and the BLM initiative. EFA stands for Education For All and BLM for Basic Learning Materials. The EFA Forum offers a platform for coordination among donors. The Forum addresses reports to major donors in education. Unfortunately, few people read reports of this kind. As early as 1985 Barbara Searle reported in a General Operational Review of Textbooks, written for the World Bank, that of nine projects surveyed only three left functioning textbook systems behind. Damningly she added that she found "shortfalls in every aspect of textbook provision: poor quality books, inadequate distribution systems, inability to establish and maintain production schedules, inadequate procedures for handling paper equipment, teacher training activities out of phase with book publication, poor coordination between curriculum and manuscript development, and above all a failure to establish institutions that could continue to provide good quality books after project completion".

No one was listening then, and it seems no one is listening now. The problems encountered by many book development projects today are the same as those outlined in this twelve-year-old report. The only hopeful sign is an increasing acknowledgement that the provision of schoolbooks and other instructional materials continues to be a problem -- easy to define, hard to solve. The fact is that national and international planners alike are uncertain about how to proceed. There are no mechanisms to share information, experience and resources except among the few companies and institutions that have worked in the field for many years.

There is a strong parallel between food aid and textbook projects. Both respond to an immediate demand. Both seek to alleviate symptoms rather than deal with causes.

The often-defined issues in book provision remain:

Seems simple enough, doesn't it? But so far, it has proved beyond, if not the wit, the will and resources of national and international bodies alike. Many good intentions have run into the sand.

In 1991, the EFA Forum decided to review the book question worldwide and propose a global strategy. People who had experience with textbook projects and who were known to have strong opinions were invited to participate. Educational planners, publishers and economists were brought together and asked three questions:

An early conclusion was that shortage of funds is not the major cause of the lack of lasting impact of many textbook projects. The most serious problem is the way that book provision to schools is analyzed and dealt with. The failure to sustain textbook projects is most often caused by a failure to recognize the industrial, professional and economic aspects of book provision and by the absence of national policy-making and overall management. Too often, textbook projects have been designed by educators to be executed by educators. Too often, educational publishers, who are at the heart of any modern publishing industry, have been shut out. Professional publishers are rarely consulted in textbook project design and implementation. Who would undertake a road construction project without involving a structural engineer?

In many developing countries, textbook publishing is a monopoly of the government, which has resulted in an artificial division between educational publishing and trade publishing. As a result, textbook projects have not only undermined educational publishing, but have limited the development of commercial publishing. Government monopolies of educational publishing reduce investment opportunities. Equally, they reduce the impact of many textbook projects on the general reading environment.

This is a situation which closely resembles the situation that used to be in the demand economy of former Soviet Republics and the effect is much the same. It is important to realise that the problem is not really one of public versus private enterprise but of monopoly enterprise versus competitive, commercial and professional business practice.

The answer, as framed by the EFA Forum, is to stop judging book provision schemes solely on their immediate educational impact. Book provision to the educational sector must be developed in the context of strengthening national book-related industries. This calls for stronger cooperation between educators, publishers and economists. By separating the provision of instructional materials from the main bulk of the educational sector work, what have been seen as "merely" logistical problems ultimately to be overcome by increased funding, are seen as fundamental to the total issue of book provision.

Even when the (relatively few) experts in this area are agreed, moving from analysis to implementation remains a challenge. The only way to meet it would be to bring people who work with book provision on a day-to-day basis into the debate. Extraordinarily, a major obstacle to book development is simply absence of information and coordination and the difficulties in establishing a meaningful dialogue between the many different people involved. Agreeing on a common conceptual framework will enable people that previously could not talk together to do so and to strengthen coordination of the very diverse activities that are needed to boost book sectors.

The EFA Basic Learning Materials initiative is essentially an education programme, with people working within the education sector as the primary target. However, the initiative also makes a conscious effort to create dialogue and partnerships between all the professions working within the book sector - especially publishers. We urge the upgrading of professional staff in local publishing industries, especially in terms of management and production control, and support the elaboration of national book policies, which we define as coherent sets of legally binding regulations, set by the highest national authority, to govern the development, printing and dissemination of books, while providing favourable conditions for publishing industries. The BLM programme offers technical assistance in this respect.

From Plan to Print to Pupils: A Guide to Sustainable Book Provision was the first of a series of training manuals aimed at policy makers and educational planners. It includes a model for a national book policy and a self-checking questionnaire. Countries such as Colombia which have incorporated national legislation giving priority to the book sector are cited.

We recognize that the EFA Forum is one of numerous initiatives. The Bellagio Publishing Network is an informal association of organizations dedicated to strengthening indigenous publishing in the third world. The network of Soros Foundations supports publishing industries in very many countries and has established a centre in Budapest to provide technical assistance to all Soros book-oriented activities. APNET, the African Publishers Network, has contributed to raising the profile of African publishing issues and facilitating coordination; INTERBOOK - a global network for publishing, coordinated by UNESCO - is a recent attempt to promote sharing of information and resources through networking. The result could be a new level of dialogue and cooperation.

The urgent need to raise textbook provision into the wider context of the whole book sector is not justified only by the goal of achieving economic and technical sustainability of the programmes - even though this by itself is a sufficient reason. It also touches on the role that books and other vehicles of information play in modern societies. Education for all and an expansion of the information society are intimately connected.

Developing countries depend on the knowledge, research and information produced by industrialised countries, just as they up till now - and still to a great extent - depend on these same countries for book supply. Like transitional economies they need to support and develop their book sector to be in a better position to develop new and more equitable channels for exchange of information, culture and knowledge. Providing universal access to the information of the world is essential to the concept of education for all.

The ultimate goal of developing literate societies cannot be attained alone by providing learning materials to the education sector. If people are to stay literate, they must continue reading throughout their adult lives. Book development projects, therefore, should not only subsidize instructional materials, but address themselves to making people read outside of school; generating a general desire for books; creating appreciation of books; and persuading people and governments to spend money on books in preference to other commodities. If this is not done, the best-intentioned educational book projects will lead to a relapse into functional illiteracy.

A literate society is not conceivable without a market-based publishing sector, involving local authors writing books for local readers in local languages. In societies with widespread illiteracy, provision of textbooks and other learning materials cannot be left to a publishing industry which is ineffective. Provided it allows for the involvement, development and growth of private sector publishing, the production and distribution of learning materials under government supervision can be seen as a first step towards creating a reading society and a market for books and other printed materials.

Very little money will ever be earmarked for the promotion of indigenous publishing industries. Education, however, will continue to receive substantial funding. If we succeed in broadening textbook projects into sustainability, this will con-tribute to changing the conditions that have prevented book industries from developing in many areas of the world for so long. It will also contribute to a wider recognition of a professional competence and skills that make for quality publishing, and help to create the economy that is needed to sustain it.

Among publishers, the emphasis when discussing publishing in developing countries is naturally on the development of a market for books and other printed materials. The majority of publishers argue that if only the Governments got out of textbook publishing, then everything would be OK. The question is, however, whether this isn't also a simplistic monetary argument about what it takes to establish the kind of reading and book environment existing in developed countries. The cultivation of reading habits and a market for books in many developing countries cannot be left entirely to the free market forces if the Governments' goal of establishing reading societies is to be achieved.

The good news is that there is a growing recognition and consensus of the benefits of planning for book development and textbook provision together among the agencies working in this field. This could change the whole concept of book development in many countries, and properly designed textbook projects could provide a motor for this change. Governments in developing countries are also waking up to the fact that providing an effective infrastructure for information handling should be a development priority.

A small number of publishing nations dominate the world publishing scene. One of the problems we are struggling with is the lack of lobbying on the part of established publishers for a more comprehensive approach to book development all over the world and a wider understanding of the fact that development of local publishing industries in these largely untapped markets in the longer run can only benefit international book trade.

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