When the issues with the Department of Basic Education's new Foundation Stage textbook list were highlighted in Parliament on Tuesday, it became clear just how fierce competition in the industry really is.
Some educational publishing companies are prepared to engage in bribery, collusion and deception to get their books included in the Department of Basic Education (DBE) school textbook list, MPs were told on Tuesday.
The claim was made as the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education met to discuss the DBE's controversial new Foundational Phase catalogue.
In view of this, MPs expressed strong concern News24 report This meant that the success of the new catalog entrant, Lighthouse Publishers, was patchy.
daily whimsical has since been reported In four consecutive articles on this topic, News24 failed to disclose that its sister company Via Africa was one of the rival publishers who bid for the same catalogue.
Any wrongdoing by the lighthouse or DBE officials has not yet been proven. But evidence from the meeting showed that questions were being asked after a new company won an unexpected amount of coveted slots in the catalogue.
Two for the price of one
Educational publishing companies are heavily dependent on government textbook contracts for their revenue, with one publisher telling Daily Maverick on condition of anonymity that he estimates sales of these textbooks account for 90% of his company's total business….