Porto Editora clarified yesterday, Monday that the book of the 6th grade of Social Sciences, target of an inquiry by the General Inspectorate of Public Administration of Mozambique, for containing errors considered serious, was not published by it.

The publisher, in a written statement sent to Lusa, states that "the 6th grade Social Sciences book, which was the target of an inquiry by the Inspecção-Geral da Administração Pública, was not published by Porto Editora.

The company was thus reacting to the announcement made on Tuesday by the Minister of Education and Human Development, Carmelita Namashulua, that her ministry's commission of inquiry which investigated the case indicated that negligence on the part of Porto Editora was one of the causes of the errors classified as serious.

"The Porto Editora group has been active in the education sector in Mozambique since 2003 and during this period has published numerous textbooks [from grade 1 to 12]. However, in this project we acted as editorial consultants, following the new model for textbooks production decided by the Mozambican government", says the Portuguese company.

"Thus, it is important to clarify that Porto Editora is not the publisher of the referred textbook, being only an editorial consultant, and the work is owned by the Ministry of Education and Human Development - MINEDH. The printing and distribution is also the responsibility of the MINEDH", he reinforced.

The publisher also explains that, as a consultant, it "hired a Mozambican author and a scientific reviewer, both with recognized resumes.

Moreover, he adds that the book in question "was subjected to validation tests by MINEDH bodies, and Porto Editora integrated all requests for changes requested by the Ministry".

"After integrating all the changes we were requested to make, the final version of the book was submitted to the Ministry for approval, which validated the 6th grade manual. Porto Editora ended its intervention there, delivering the book files to MINEDH, which was duly approved by this body," adds the clarification note.

The company also reveals that "throughout the process, Porto Editora alerted, more than once, in writing, to the very short deadline given by MINEDH for the preparation of the consultancy work and emphasized, from the very first moment, the risks inherent in the urgency requested.

According to the same note, after the public disclosure of the cases detected in the book, Porto Editora "was always available to collaborate with MINEDH and guarantees that it "sent in time the errata proposal requested" by the Mozambican government, which then "ended up not being distributed.

In addition, it says it has "collaborated with total availability from the first moment with the Inspection, providing all the clarifications and documents requested.

But, it assures that it "has not yet received, and is awaiting the outcome of the inquiry, remaining fully available to collaborate with MINEDH."

In the note, Porto Editora stresses "the rigor, quality and innovation that guide all of its operations" and "reinforces its commitment to the educational, cultural and civilizational development of Portuguese speakers.

"The corrections presented, contained in the consultants' reports and signed by the director of the National Institute for Educational Development, were not fully complied with by Porto Editora, which reveals negligence on the part of the latter in fulfilling its obligations," the minister of education said on Tuesday, as quoted by Lusa.

The governor was speaking during a press conference that served to present the report of the commission of inquiry created to investigate, within 15 days, the cause of the errors, classified as serious, in the book of free distribution of the 6th grade in Mozambique.

According to the governor, the textbooks were approved without observing all five evaluation phases foreseen in the contractual clauses, although the books have passed through the analysis of the National Institute for the Development of Education, the School Book and Didactic Material Management Department, and the National Directorate of Primary Education, which also reveals negligence and lack of professionalism on the part of these bodies.

The commission of inquiry recommends the restructuring of the School Book Evaluation Council, with emphasis on the resignations of the director-general of the National Institute for Education Development, Ismael Nheze, and the national director of Primary Education, Gina Guibunda.

The Ministry of Education also announced that a specialized commission will be created to evaluate financial issues related to the case, with emphasis on the analysis of the contracts signed with the entities involved in the production and printing of the book.

Among the several errors detected in the book, which was withdrawn from schools after they were detected, is the geographic location of Mozambique, which in the book is located in East Africa and is not listed as a country of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an entity in whose foundation it participated.

Another anomaly that is considered serious is the location of former borders of Zimbabwe, a country that borders Mozambique, but which the book indicates is bathed by the Red Sea.