GMOA to be sued for false allegations against Geography textbook
View(s):The Ministry of Education (MoE) last week said it would take legal action against the Govt Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) for spreading false information regarding a textbook that was published by the Education Dept. This follows the GMOA alleging that a Geography textbook distributed to Grade 7 students at the beginning of this year, had artificial pages used in it, and will be harmful to students’ health.
The MoE defended its decision to print the book on artificial paper, and said it was done for durability and to withstand natural disasters. It also said the Education Dept. could correct errors in maps in the book by adding a colour to it. The Ministry website said that 500,000 books were printed after obtaining the approval of the Technical Evaluation Committee. “Around 150,000 books printed in Sinhala, Tamil and English have been distributed to students in Grade 7 in January 2017, and there have been no complaints of any ill effects from teachers or students,” the website said.
Its said the polypropylene paper used to print the books has been approved by the Sri Lanka Industrial Technical Institute, which has eliminated the possibility of heavy metal or harmful chemicals in its composition. “The GMOA is spreading false information to get back at the MoE, for its failure to obtain admission for their children to schools of their choice,” the website said. -Chrishanthi Christopher