KICD warns head teachers, parents about substandard textbooks in circulation

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has appealed to head teachers to ensure that books used in schools for the new curriculum meet the necessary requirements.

This comes following uproar that some books circulating in the market purported to be for the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) are not approved.

In a statement to newsrooms on Sunday, KICD also urged parents to confirm that the complementary textbooks they buy for their children are age appropriate.

“Textbooks are important in curriculum delivery. They must be the right ones to ensure learners are not treated to misleading content,” said KICD director Dr. Julius Jwan.

According to Dr. Jwan, some unscrupulous traders might take advantage of introduction of the CBC to sell substandard books.

“We are monitoring the situation, especially those inserting fake imprints on such books. But, all of us must remain vigilant to protect our children,” he added.

He also appealed to those circulating the books to confirm if indeed they are in the local market to avoid causing unnecessary panic.

Dr. Jwan further revealed that the origin of some of the books with unapproved content has been established to be as far as Egypt, Ghana and USA.

The KICD boss said head teachers and parents can refer to the addendum to Orange book for CBC, available on their website to ascertain the genuine textbooks.

“The addendum contains approved books for pre-primary 1 and 2 and Grade 1, 2 and 3. On January 2, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed directed education officers to confirm that only KICD approved are used in schools,” added the statement.

Thank you for supporting the Competency Based Curriculum. We urge teachers and parents to use approved textbooks. This is an example of books not approved by KICD. @StandardKenya @dailynation @TheStarKenya @citizentvkenya @NTVnewsroom @KTNKenya @K24Tv @KBCChannel1 pic.twitter.com/O8inAxiRoR

— KICD (@KICDKenya) January 12, 2019