Addis Ababa - Two Indian publishers have beaten off stiff international competition to win Ethiopian government contracts worth $5.9 million to print and distribute textbooks on six subjects, as also teachers' guides, a trend that has been consistent over the past three years.
Repro Printers and Pitambra Books were among 19 international printing companies that responded to an education ministry tender four months ago to print textbooks in six disciplines -- mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, civics, and ethics.
All bidders passed the technical evaluation stage, which included assessing the capacity of the printers and their ability to supply the books with the specified cover page and weight of the paper. Eventually, only the two companies from India were selected for the order for five million textbooks.
Established in 1984, the Mumbai-based Repro Printers recorded revenues of $47.1 million last year. Pitambra Books, established in 2001, is based in Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh and earned $18 million last year.
The lucrative business of printing school textbooks began in 2009 after the Ethiopian government decided to outsource this to foreign printers due to what education authorities claimed was a lack of capacity among domestic printers.
After securing a grant that could reach as high as $1 billion, the first phase of printing 700,000 copies of four textbooks at a cost of $322.8 million was awarded to Britain's Pearson Education Ltd and India's Star Educational Books.
The project is part of the ministry's General Education Quality Improvement Package (GEQIP) that is supported by a $417 million grant from the World Bank as well as from Britain, Italy and Finland.
The five million textbooks, the majority of them relating to mathematics and civics, that will be printed by the two Indian companies are expected to arrive in June, ministry officials say. The companies are also expected to deliver the textbooks to 31 locations across the Ethiopia.
The textbooks have been developed based on the new curriculum of the education ministry. Some $150 million dollars has been spent on curriculum development, the money being provided by the Ethiopian government and the World Bank.
| Other Articles: |
 |
Private tuitions by government teachers an offence: Tripura government (4th Jan, 2012) |
|
All study, no play making your Jack a dull boy: Study (3rd Jan, 2012) |
|
Three engineering students expelled for ragging in Bihar (28th Dec, 2011) |
|
Bill for agriculture university deferred (28th Dec, 2011) |
|
Tripura to apply 'no detention policy' in schools amid concern (28th Dec, 2011) |
|
Beijing gets first 'human library' (27th Dec, 2011) |
|
Young minds not pursuing maths, says PM (26th Dec, 2011) |
|
Young minds not pursuing maths: PM (26th Dec, 2011) |
|
Unaided private schools seek amendments in RTE (23rd Dec, 2011) |
|
Judges recuse from hearing Jamia students' union case (21st Dec, 2011) |
|
Court moved to lift ban on Jamia Millia students' union poll (21st Dec, 2011) |
|
Incidents of ragging in Sainik Schools being probed: Antony (20th Dec, 2011) |
|
Maoists blow up Bihar school (17th Dec, 2011) |
|
Apex court declines order on national medical entrance test (17th Dec, 2011) |
|
Jamia honours Amartya Sen (17th Dec, 2011) |
|
Mamata assures education and training for minorities (15th Dec, 2011) |
|
Kerala University cancels PhD registration of Achuthanandan's son (14th Dec, 2011) |
|
Notice to government on plea against Aligarh varsity head (14th Dec, 2011) |
|
China bars teachers from using harsh words (13th Dec, 2011) |
|
Teaching a lesson to the Badal government (9th Dec, 2011) |
|
Harvard drops Subramanian Swamy's courses (8th Dec, 2011) |
|
Need to review criteria for scholarships, says CBSE chairman (1st Dec, 2011) |
|
Seven ex-students get three-year jail for junior's death (30th Nov, 2011) |
|
Punjab, Chandigarh colleges to remain shut Wednesday (28th Nov, 2011) |
|
Jamia: Little known hub of pioneering scientific research (26th Nov, 2011) |
Today : Friday - May 25, 2012, 12:44am (GMT+5.5)
