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Publishers get reprieve on Sh5bn books for new syllabus

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Lawrence Njagi, the Kenya Publishers' Association chairman. PHOTO | NMG

Book publishers are counting on continued piloting of Kenya’s new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) to save the Sh5 billion investment they have made in printing books before a recent reversal of the plan to fully roll out the new syllabus in January.

Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) chairman, Lawrence Njagi, yesterday said Education secretary Amina Mohamed had clarified that piloting the new curriculum would continue till 2020, allaying fears that publishers would incur huge losses with the indefinite suspension of the 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum.

Ms Mohamed had earlier said the new curriculum will not be rolled-out in January, sparking panic and protests from parents and publishers, who had invested in the programme.

“The ministry has assured us that piloting will go on for the next full year. We have not received orders from the government, but we are looking forward to getting them,” Mr Njagi sai.

14.8m books

He added that some 14.8 million books for Grades 1, 2 and 3 and pre-primary 1 and 2 estimated to be worth Sh5 billion, have been printed.

Publishers are said to have distributed at least 400,000 books countrywide in readiness for the programme.

Besides, many private schools had compiled and sent parents book-lists for January, and some parents have actually purchased the books.

Mr Njagi urged the national and county governments to move with speed and provide the funds for provision of books to public schools.

Primary schools are under the national government while the counties are in charge of early childhood education.

The publishers last Saturday met with Ministry of Education officials, including Ms Mohamed, to save the programme that had been thrown into disarray with the shock announcement that its full implementation had been moved to January 2020.

Teacher training

Ms Mohamed on Saturday announced that the CBC National Pilot would be extended for one more year to allow alignment in implementation, particularly, intensive in-service teacher training.

Full rollout of the new curriculum for pupils in nursery school to Class Three was to start in January as the piloting continued in Class Four.

Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), Focus, Oxford University Press (OUP), Moran, East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) and Story Moja were contracted by the government to print books for all public schools.

The deal is part of the government’s plan to supply textbooks directly to schools and ensure a 1:1 textbook to student ratio.