PICTURE this: your child is reading a Mathematics, Science or English textbook. Suddenly, he or she comes across an inconspicuous messages reading: 'My mother is a harlot and my father is a kidnapper.' The innocent child then curiously seeks to know what it means to be a harlot or a kidnapper. This is the dilemma many parents are presently facing as various textbooks, full of various hidden dirty sentences, are being publicly sold and recommended to primary and secondary schools in the countryThe textbooks, marketed by an indigenous publisher, Africana First Publisher Limited, have drawn the ire of parents for their concealed inscriptions, which have been roundly condemned as offensive and disrespectful.Some of the sentences, which are barely visible in the textbooks read: 'I know that my mother is a harlot and that my father is a kidnapper.' 'I am a son/daughter of a harlot and kidnapper.' 'My parents teach me to love and smoke Indian hemp, kill and practice other illegal things.' 'I confess that my family is bad and evil and a disgrace to the nation.'According to Africana First Publisher, the hidden sentences can only be visible when pages of the books are photocopied. When contacted, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Austin Onwubiko said the hidden sentences were designed to stop the acts of piracy. But parents whose children noticed the prints have described them as an indirect attempt to brainwash the kids and malign Nigeria's educational standards.Onwubiko revealed to The Guardian that, the company had, in the past, tried various means to stop piracy, adopted several measures including deploying the latest technology which ultimately frustrates any infringement of the company's copy right, especially at the scanning and photocopying stages.Onwubiko, in a statement said, 'This very technology has been in use by us for some time. But recently, we have been receiving isolated reports of cases where complaints have been laid concerning this particular issue. This measure has never failed; we are inclined to believe that book pirates have compromised it.Consequently, we have commenced investigations to unravel the matter and will subsequently reach out to our stakeholders.'However, in a chat with The Guardian, a parent, Mr. Opeyemi Fodeke, who recently discovered the texts, said certain textbooks such as, 'Understanding Mathematics', Intensive English, Intensive Chemistry and Physics published by Africana First Publisher Limited, have statements covertly imprinted on pages of textbooks, which are given to student in over 90 per cent of schools in the country.According to him, his attention was drawn to the offensive statements when one of his sons asked what the word 'harlot' that was inscribed in the book, meant. Opeyemi stated: ' It came as a shock to find that the core textbooks used by both our primary and tertiary institutions, published and distributed by AFRICANA PUBLISHERS contain subliminal hidden texts within the pages of the most widely used Mathematics, English, Chemistry and Biology textbooks that are horrifying in their language and damaging in their content.He added, 'The question is, now that we have been made aware of this, what are we going to do about it' Do we continue to enrich those who publish and distribute these books or do we boycott their products along with the filth they peddle' Do we keep quiet about the schools that buy and use these filthy books, being fully aware of the rubbish within them, yet insensitive to the damage they may cause our children or do we splash their names in vivid colour across all and every form of news media available to us, blacklisting such schools and causing an exodus of our kids from them' Do we remain calm and logical about the matter or do we get loud, noisy and dramatic, with the aim of getting the attention of the Ministry of Education with a view to banning the books and publisher alike from our educational horizon' The burden of responsibility must be identified and placed on the befitting shoulder.Describing such types of prints as subliminal stimuli messages which are sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, Opeyemi, quoted the Wikipedia reports stating, 'Some research has found that subliminal messages do not produce strong or lasting changes in behavior. However, a recent review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies shows that subliminal stimuli activate specific regions of the brain despite participants being unaware.''Subliminal images ' in other words, images shown so briefly that the viewer does not consciously 'see' them ' have long been the subject of controversy, particularly in the area of advertising. Previous studies have already hinted that people can unconsciously pick up on subliminal information intended to provoke an emotional response, but limitations in the design of the studies have meant that the conclusions were ambiguous.Another Parent who spoke to the Guardian, Mrs. Blessing Mobogue explained that one of such books titled 'Understanding Mathematics' had the disturbing offensive statements and that over the years, students who discover them sometimes don't tell their parent but use them as play materials.A particular Primary school, whose official pleaded anonymity, said he had noticed the prints as far back as 2010 and that it was not aware that the students had noticed the hidden prints.However, some Proprietresses fwho spoke to The Guardian, denied knowledge of the hidden prints but revealed that they had been supplied two types of the textbooks. A gray background print and White background print.Africana First Publisher Limited, major player in the educational publishing sector with over 25 years of experience, publishes, Nursery Texts, Poems And Rhymes For Schools, Junior Secondary Schools and Senior Secondary School Textbooks.Africana Publishers markets and distributes Understanding maths (stage 1-6), Comprehensive English (stage 1- 6), Biology (stage 1- 6) and Chemistry (stage 1-6) for all levels of classes from primary one to six, and js1 to SS3.Among schools that use Africana Publishers textbooks include Unilag secondary and primary school, Kings' College, and Queens' College.
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