Longhorn Publishers on Friday apologised to the public
following outrage over the contents of a grade two book they published.
The book, Smart Score Encyclopaedia Volume 1, was put on the
spot for giving inappropriate choices to life situations.
One of the questions that caused uproar was: “Alice says she
looks bad. What should you tell her?” Choices provided for this question
included: 1. God loves, 2. Kill herself.
Another was: "Lucy and Margaret are sisters. Lucy is
loved more by her parents. What should Margaret do? The choices provided are:
1. Kill herself, 2. Do what her parents want.
Through a statement to their customers, Longhorn
acknowledged the query and took full responsibility saying they had recalled
the books from the market.
“We take great pride in providing high-quality learning
materials to our customers, but in this instance, we failed…we are extremely
sorry.
“We take matters regarding mental health seriously and would
never wish for our products to be considered to be encouraging suicide,” read
the statement in part.
Further, the publisher stated that corrective steps had been
put in place to ensure the situation does not happen again.
“We always aim to improve and your feedback is essential to
that process,” stated the letter.
Jeff Khira, a mental health advocate, opined on the matter
saying the rising rates of suicide among school-going children might be
attributed to such content since it interferes with their thought process.