The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has directed publishers to withdraw unapproved books from the market as they not only violate the established regulations, but also compromise the quality of educational materials for use by teachers and learners.
The authority, which is mandated to develop, review and approve curricula, programmes and support materials that meet international standards for basic and tertiary education, said the publishers must comply with requirements of approval.
The CEO Prof Charles Ong’ondo ordered all publishers to ensure that only books that are approved by KICD and labelled as such are marketed for use in schools.
Some of the books the institute pointed out are sold without approval include Encyclopedias that are intended for learners in early years of education.
The institute noted that the encyclopedias are quite big, largely containing questions and answers and very repetitive in terms of content, hence clearly unsuitable for use by learners in the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
To ensure that only books that are approved by KICD are accessed by learners, the institute has requested the Ministry of Education (MoE) to advise public and private schools to stop using unapproved books.
MoE has also been requested to inform law enforcement agencies of any unapproved materials for action to be taken.
KICD pointed out that publishers who will be found to be marketing unapproved books will not be eligible to participate in any government textbook-related procurement tenders.
By Obegi Malack
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