The Ministry of Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu has presided over the launch, designs and distribution exercise of the national grade 7 textbooks at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
The CS disclosed that the start of the distribution of the Grade 7 textbooks will cost the government a total of over Sh. 3.16 billion, following the completion of the assessment exercise of all primary schools to ascertain their readiness to host Junior Secondary School learners.
“These books are expected in all schools that have been found suitable to admit Grade 7 learners,” said Machogu.
He applauded the government for the distribution exercise that is expected to be completed next week as this will ensure that learners have adequate teaching and learning materials as directed by the President.
“We are today launching the distribution of 17,893,270 copies of learner’s books and 423,514 copies of Teacher’s guide for grade 7,” stated Machogu.
He added that the distribution is scheduled to run between 30th January and 17th February 2023 in all the over 20,000 schools identified to host Junior Secondary Schools as assessed by the Ministry.
The CS emphasized that only the books that have been approved by KICD should be used as they have undergone rigorous evaluation to suit the learners’ curriculum.
He reiterated that appropriate textbooks have been developed for special needs education following the Stage-Based Pathway to cater for special needs students.
“I wish to advise head teachers to check the number of books supplied to their schools. Any school that may have variances between the numbers of books delivered in relation to the number of learners in Grade 7 should report to the sub-county education office through the director of secondary education by 20th March 2023,” directed Machogu.
Further, Machogu urged all schools to maintain and maximize the use of textbooks distributed to learning institutions as the same books will be supplied after four years.
The CS highlighted some of the publishers contracted to print and distribute the textbooks for Grade 7 for various subjects including; Oxford University Press, Kenya Literature Bureau, East African Educational Publishers, Longhorn Publishers, Storymoja Publishers, Mountain Top Publishers, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, Spotlight Publishers, Moran Publishers among others.
Echoing the CS’s sentiments the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Director KICD Prof Charles Ong’ondo also restated that books being distributed have been evaluated by measures meeting international standards.
He said that while public schools receive books, private schools will buy from bookshops across the country.
“KICD will use feedback to make amendments in future,” Ong’ondo remarked.