Mozambique creates inquiry commission in book mistakes

Mozambique’s ministry of education and human development has announced the creation of a commission of inquiry to determine who is responsible for the glaring mistakes made in a sixth grade social sciences book, which should arrive in schools from Monday.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Gina Guibunda, took the opportunity to apologise to parents, guardians, students and society in general for the mistakes.

The errors in the book entitled “Our Continent”, include both the geographical and historical location of Zimbabwe, a wrong illustration of Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic and some national rivers.

News about what critics described as inconceivable and unacceptable errors began to circulate on social media last week – and forced the education ministry to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday with the director of National Institute for Development of Education (Inde), responsible for drafting and writing the book.

Both Inde and the publisher, Porto Editora from Portugal, have not yet commented on the errors.