This archive report was first published on 1 July 2020.
On July 1, 2020, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) announced the winners of a tender to supply textbooks to Grade 5 pupils under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Nine companies, including the government agency Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), were awarded the tender to publish 12 textbooks that the government will supply to schools starting in September.
The textbooks will be used in preparation for the roll-out of the new curriculum to Grade Five. The KICD released the results of the tenders at the weekend and instructed publishers to produce quality learning materials.
According to KICD acting chief executive Joel Mabonga, 'No publisher will be granted 'Approved by KICD' status until all corrections have been done to the satisfaction of curriculum specialists in the respective learning area.'
For the next few days, the KICD, education experts, and publishers will converge to polish the approved books before printing.
The companies that won the tender include KLB, which will supply Islamic Religious Education and Kiswahili books, Moran Publishers, which will print English books, and Mountain Top, which will deliver Home Science and Agriculture books.
Other winners include Mentor Publishers, which will supply Mathematics course books, Book Mark Africa, which will print Art and Craft books, East African Educational Publishers, which will supply Science and Technology and Social Studies books, Longhorn, which will supply Christian Religious Education books, JKF, which will supply Music books, and Spotlight, which will supply Physical and Health Education books.
However, the distribution of books in French, Arabic, Mandarin, and Indigenous Languages has been put on hold due to the optional nature of these subjects and the need to wait for schools to resume to establish the number of learners interested in these subjects.
The State is supplying textbooks directly to schools in a move aimed at achieving a 1:1 textbook to student ratio.
