Schools to receive Grade Six books from next week

Grade One pupils after receiving textbooks distributed by Kenya Literature Bureau at Central Primary School in Kisumu County. [File, Standard]

Schools will start receiving Grade Six textbooks and new set books from Monday next week.

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) CEO Charles Ongondo said plans were complete to distribute the books from next week.

The set books will be used from April 2022 to 2026.

They include optional novel An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro published by Longhorn.

A Silent Song and Other Stories, published by Spotlight, will be distributed to schools from next week to replace anthology, Memories we Lost.

Also to be sent to schools are Bembea by Dr Timothy Moriasi. It will replace Kigogo by Pauline Keya Kyovi.

Hadithi fupi Pambazuko ya Machweo na Hadithi Nyingine will also be distributed to schools and will replace Tumbo Lisiloshiba na Hadithi Nyingine.

The rest of the set books will be replaced later this year and will be in use between 2023 and 2026.

This means that the compulsory novel, Fathers of Nations, will be distributed to schools later this year to replace Blossoms of the Savannah.

Compulsory play, The Samaritan, taken from Play From the Rest of the World by John Lara, will also be used from 2023 and will be distributed later this year.

It will replace A Doll’s House.

The optional play, A Parliament of Owls by Adipo Sidang, will be distributed to schools later this year. It will replace Inheritance by David Mulwa.

Riwaya, Nguu za Jadi by Prof Clara Momanyi, will also be sent to schools later in the year. It will replace Chozi la Heri by Assumpta Metei.

Ongondo said all Grade Six textbooks are expected to be in schools when the next school calendar year starts in April.

According to the revised academic calendar, third term, which started on January 5, will end on March 4.

The 2023 academic year is scheduled to start on April 25 and will run up to July 1 for first term.

This is the time the pioneer Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners currently in Grade Five will move to the final primary education study year of Grade Six.

“We have planned ahead of time because we want schools to be ready to receive learners when books are already in schools,” said Ongondo.

A total of eight publishers were contracted by the government to print and distribute Grade Six textbooks worth Sh1.2 billion.

The publishers are Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), Access, Mountaintop, Oneplanet, Mentor, Longhorn, Spotlight, and Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB).

The books will be distributed to learners in public schools for free after the government negotiated prices for 12 textbooks for learners and teachers’ guides under the public procurement method adopted in 2017.

Grade Six books prices under the new negotiated prices will range from Sh72 to Sh157 while prices for teachers’ guides are between Sh72 and Sh279.

These prices may be higher for over-the-counter purchases as the low prices only apply to direct supplies to schools negotiated by the government.

KLB, which printed Social Studies, Physical and Health Education textbooks for Grade Six, will from Monday distribute them to schools.

Spotlight publishers that printed three titles – Islamic Religious Education, Music and Art and Craft textbooks – will distribute them to schools.

JKF was contracted to print and distribute English textbooks.

Mentor publishers printed Mathematics textbooks and will distribute them to schools.

Mountaintop Publishers, which printed two titles for primary schools – Home Science and Agriculture textbooks – is also expected to start distributing the material to schools next week.

Longhorn will print and distribute Christian Religious Education textbooks to schools.

Access Publishers, which was contracted to print Kiswahili textbooks, will distribute them to schools.

Science and Technology textbooks were printed by One Planet Publishers and it will distribute them to schools.

Set books for Teacher Training Colleges are also ready.

The approved Diploma Primary Teachers Training Colleges Literature in English and Fasihi ya Kiswahili set books will be in use between 2021 and 2025.

A Spider’s Web, a novel by Samwel Wachira, and Kifunganjia, a Kiswahili playbook by Daniel Okello, have been cleared for use.

And for Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education, Grain of Wheat, a novel which lapsed in 2020, will be replaced by Vanishing Herds.

The play, The Successor, which lapses in 2020, will be replaced by A Hole in the Key.

An anthology, Give Me a Chance by Bookmark Africa, came into use in September 2021.

And the novel, Maru, which lapses in 2020, will be replaced by Eyo.