NBDB denies Phoenix books very defective

The chairman of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) yesterday denied accusations that the textbooks published by Phoenix Publishing House are "very defective."

In a letter to The Star, NBDB chairman Dennis Gonzalez, PhD, said  the NBDB has a textbook review service with a panel of at least three experts from a reputable academic institutions that reviews and evaluates textbooks. The two series of textbooks put out by Phoenix Publishing, he said, had passed the board’s review.

Gonzalez disclosed that in February this year, Phoenix Publishing House voluntarily submitted some of its textbooks to the NBDB for evaluation by two institutions — the Department of English, School of Humanities  of the Ateneo de Manila University and the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (NISMED) of the University of the Philippines (UP).

The English Department of Ateneo had found the Phoenix textbooks "generally commendable" and recommended only "minor improvements," according to Gonzalez. He added that specific recommendations for fine-tuning the textbooks were then communicated to Phoenix.

"If only fine-tuning is needed, should such textbooks be considered ‘very defective’?" he asked. "Whose findings should carry more weight — those from a panel of experts from an institution with a track record for excellence, or those from a lone ‘critic’ of unknown expertise who seems very confident in pronouncing judgment on a whole series of textbooks in several learning areas such as English, Science, Asian History and Cultures and World History?"

Gonzalez explained that through the Textbook Review Service of the NBDB, publishers and authors of private school textbooks could verify the quality of their products and get specific recommendations for improvement.

"We urge all sectors concerned about textbook quality to be more responsible in making accusations or pronouncements about errors in specific textbooks," said Gonzalez.

Earlier, Antonio Calipjo Go, academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon, said that 24 books recently published by Phoenix Publishing House were loaded with errors. — Sandy Araneta