Government spokesman Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said that it was a Cabinet decision to procure pirated textbooks for public schools, disregarding copyright laws once the “good quality and better price” requirements are met by a supplier.
“The procurement, whether it is copyright material, has really concentrated on value for money. I think that is… the way in which we justify the approach that is being made,” Luncheon, head of the Presidential Secretariat, told reporters.
He was at the time responding to several questions posed by this newspaper in relation to the Ministry of Education inviting firms to bid to supply ‘pirated’ texts, which in the past had been denied by former minister of education Shaik Baksh and heavily criticised by at least one local distributor of original textbooks.
A Ministry of Education source echoed the same argument made by Luncheon, making it clear that the government cannot afford to purchase the original books because of the exorbitant prices. The source added that if the copyright laws had to be broken to ensure all of Guyana’s children get books, then that is what will be done.
Luncheon said that it was Cabinet that took the decision to acquire text books through efforts that are “consistent with the philosophy that had guided us in over 19 years of procurement” and once satisfied with the quality of the goods or services provided, “we go for the lowest cost. That has guided us in our decision making. It has been the basis for our policy that has been implemented in procurement.”
“I am certain that the persons with copyright have had their product and the cost made available (to the ministry) and it was factored into decision-making about procurement,” he further said, adding that what is eventually authorised by Cabinet is utterly consistent with the policy in place which is “quality first, best price final.”
“We go to tender and the two things that we are obsessed about, in terms of policy, is about the quality, [and] the second, once we are satisfied, is price. We don’t supply these things to ourselves,” he added. “You could be a publisher with a copyright and you could offer to sell me the book for $1. My friend is a good photocopy artist and he could sell me the book for 10 cents. All of you are going to bid but who do you think is going to get it?” he said, adding that was why he keeps on stressing quality and price.
Asked if this meant that the government does not concern itself with copyright laws, he said, “I wouldn’t say it doesn’t concern itself but I think you would want to concede that if quality and price dictate policy, then this emphasis on copyright does not indeed prevent decisions being made otherwise.”
When quizzed about Baksh’s denial that the ministry was involved in such a practice, Luncheon said he does not recall such a saga but knew that there was some issue last year. “It would be safe to say that the emphasis on seeing the procurement of textbooks as an activity conceived, engineered and executed by an individual minister, I would want to represent, that is a serious misconception,” he said, adding that neither Baksh nor his successor, Priya Manickchand, would have a hand in this matter since it was a Cabinet decision. Luncheon did not answer a question relating to whether publishers of the books are notified whenever the books are being procured.
‘Lampie pampie
books’
The Education Ministry invited seven pre-selected local firms to supply primary and secondary-level textbooks, prompting a surprise bid by the Trinidad and Tobago-based Royards Publishing Company, which holds the copyright for many of the books, at the opening on Tuesday. The books that the firms were asked to bid for include titles from Oxford University Press, Nelson Thornes, Pearson Education, Hodder Education of the United Kingdom and Royards and Caribbean Educational Publishing of Trinidad & Tobago.
The bid specifications required that “All text and workbook (sic) must be done to a similar likeness of the original” and identified “printing presses, scanners, bindery… etc.” as being among the stated criteria upon which suppliers would be evaluated.
Asked about this, Luncheon said that it is a non-issue, as the idea is to provide the best material possible to the students. “We would want to make sure that the children of Guyana have access to the best possible quality for the price that we are offering. Could you imagine giving them any lampie pampie book?! We want to make sure that they benefit from the expenses being incurred, so I think asking for that should not arouse any concerns. In fact, one should be glad that we are trying to provide the youths and the young people with the best quality short of the copyright material,” Luncheon later told Stabroek News.
When asked why the books are only now being procured when the new school year has already started, he was unable to say, but opined that the process might have been slower because of changes in the organisational structure of the ministry.
Asked whether the procurement of photocopied textbooks was an ongoing activity, Luncheon said that it has probably been happening for a while. However, he stressed that quality and price are the two factors that define the way forward and this may be the reason why Austin’s Book Services “lost out,” resulting in its protesting again. The store’s Managing Director Lloyd Austin, over the years, has been vocal about the “illegal printing of textbooks.” Austin’s is one of few places in Guyana that still sells original textbooks.
In a letter published in yesterday’s Stabroek News, Austin said it was the hope of the two authentic booksellers left in Guyana that after the end of Baksh’s tenure as Minister of Education, the practice of illegally printing textbooks for schools would have ended. “Regrettably this appears not to be the case,” he said, referring to the bid opening on Tuesday.
Although seven firms were invited to participate in the restrictive tendering for the project, only five of them placed bids, including two who submitted bids higher than the publisher’s. They were: Giftland OfficeMax ($155,084,264), Pavnik Press ($256,831,211) Metro Office and Computer Supplies ($103,671,162) Sheik Hassan Printery Inc ($78,471,330) and F&H Printing Establishment ($77,382,312). Although Gandhi Variety Store and KRSNA & Balram Printery were invited to bid, they did not. Royards Publishing Company Limited which holds the copyright for many of the books, submitted a bid of $103,862,200.
Stabroek News understands that the $103 million that was bid by the Trinidadian company may only be for books that are published by Royards. A source said if the price the company bid is indeed for all the books on the ministry’s list, then more than likely the company would be awarded the contract. A source indicated that before the project was put to tender, many publishers were contacted but the prices they quoted were just too high and they were not prepared to consider some options that were presented to them.
Clifford Narinesingh, a representative of Royards who attended the bid opening, had told Stabroek News that his company just wanted to see how the tender process would go before even contemplating any legal option. “I don’t know yet, depends on the directors of the company… It’s an option available for many publishers,” he said.
“Ours is the original work. Copyright shouldn’t be infringed really. I know there is case in Guyana where to justify it, it is said that it is an impoverished society and you need more books for more children… Colour work and presentation are original and obviously the prices will be higher than the black and white but it’s (piracy) not morally right,” Narinesingh said.
Austin’s Bookstore, the city’s leading bookseller, had told Stabroek Business up to 2010 that it had to cut the importation of textbooks by up to 70% as a result of the competition from pirated copies.
Austin told this newspaper then that his store was down to importing “a few dozen copies” of texts from several reputable publishers as against “a few hundred” in previous years. He also said he had to slash importation of books published by Oxford, Nelson-Thorne, Heinemann and Longman as well as regional publishing houses Royards and Caribbean Education Publishers, which were key publishers of books used in the local school curriculum.
