The interactive alphabet books, promised by the authorities, were not printed. Due to violations of the principles of evaluation, the books were not issued.
"During the textbook contest, complaints were registered regarding seven lots of books, including the alphabet. Unfortunately, competitions had to be canceled for 5 lots, due to violation of evaluation", the Minister of Education, Culture and Research, Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei, told IPN.
The minister abstained from offering a detailed account of the previous process. "We are in a position to have the same books as we had last year”, said Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei.
According to the minister, publishers submitted their offers which were subsequently evaluated by a commission. Unfortunately, this process was not transparent at the ministry level. According to the tender procedure, the evaluation should have happened as soon as the bids were called by publishers. However, the process of determining the evaluators lasted more than 40 days. "Even without complaints, this fact made it impossible for new textbooks to be printed by September 1", the minister explained.
Earlier, Ministry of Education officials announced that on September 1, a new generation of textbooks will be distributed for the first and second grades. These textbooks, including the alphabet, were supposed to be designed in an interactive format.
