On Monday of next week, schools will begin receiving Grade Six textbooks and new set books.
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) CEO Charles Ongondo stated that distribution of the books would begin next week.
The set books will be used between April 2022 and April 2026. They include Kazuo Ishiguro’s optional novel, An Artist of the Floating World, published by Longhorn.
Spotlight’s A Silent Song and Other Stories will be distributed to schools beginning next week, replacing the anthology, Memories We Lost.
Bembea by Dr Timothy Moriasi will also be distributed to schools. Kigogo will be replaced by Pauline Keya Kyovi.
Tumbo Lisiloshiba na Hadithi Nyingine will be replaced by Hadithi fupi Pambazuko ya Machweo na Hadithi Nyingine, which will be distributed to schools.
The remaining set books will be replaced later this year and used between 2023 and 2026.
This means that Fathers of Nations, the required novel, will be distributed to schools later this year to replace Blossoms of the Savannah.
The Samaritan, adapted from John Lara’s Play From the Rest of the World, will also be used as compulsory play beginning in 2023 and will be distributed later this year.
It will take the place of A Doll’s House.
Adipo Sidang’s optional play, A Parliament of Owls, will be distributed to schools later this year. It will take the place of David Mulwa’s Inheritance.
Prof Clara Momanyi’s Riwaya, Nguu za Jadi will also be distributed to schools later this year. Assumpta Metei will take over for Chozi la Heri.
According to Ongondo, all Grade Six textbooks are expected to be in schools when the new school year begins in April.
The third term, which began on January 5, will end on March 4, according to the revised academic calendar.
The 2023 academic year is set to begin on April 25 and will end on July 1 for the first term.
The pioneer Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners currently in Grade Five will transition to the final primary education study year of Grade Six at this time.
“We have planned ahead of time because we want schools to be ready to receive learners when books are already in schools,” said Ongondo.
The government has contracted with eight publishers to print and distribute Grade Six textbooks worth Sh1.2 billion.
Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), Access, Mountaintop, Oneplanet, Mentor, Longhorn, Spotlight, and Kenya Literature Bureau are the publishers (KLB).
The books will be distributed for free to students in public schools after the government negotiated prices for 12 textbooks for students and teachers’ guides through the public procurement method, which was implemented in 2017.
Grade Six books will cost between Sh72 and Sh157 under the new negotiated prices, while teachers’ guides will cost between Sh72 and Sh279.
These prices may be higher for over-the-counter purchases because the government-negotiated low prices only apply to direct supplies to schools.
KLB, which printed Social Studies, Physical Education, and Health Education textbooks for Grade Six, will begin distributing them to schools on Monday.
Spotlight publishers will distribute three titles – Islamic Religious Education, Music, and Art and Craft textbooks – to schools. JKF was tasked with printing and distributing English textbooks.
Mentor publishers printed and will distribute Mathematics textbooks to schools.
Mountaintop Publishers, which printed two primary school textbooks – Home Science and Agriculture – is also expected to begin distributing the material to schools next week.
Longhorn will print and distribute textbooks for Christian Religious Education in schools. Kiswahili textbooks will be distributed to schools by Access Publishers, which was contracted to print them.
One Planet Publishers printed science and technology textbooks, which it will distribute to schools.
Set books for Teacher Training Colleges have also been completed.
Between 2021 and 2025, the approved Diploma Primary Teachers Training Colleges Literature in English and Fasihi ya Kiswahili set books will be used.
Samwel Wachira’s novel A Spider’s Web and Daniel Okello’s Kifunganjia, a Kiswahili playbook, have both been approved for use.
Grain of Wheat, a novel that expired in 2020, will be replaced by Vanishing Herds for the Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education.
The Successor, which runs until 2020, will be replaced by A Hole in the Key.
Give Me a Chance by Bookmark Africa, an anthology, entered use in September 2021.
And Eyo will take over for the novel Maru, which expires in 2020.
