The government has distributed 9.9 million textbooks to public primary schools across the country, Education PS Belio Kipsang has announced.
The PS said schools that had not received the books have now received the learning materials.
“Any school that has not received books is not because they were not available.
"It is because, maybe on the day the books were being taken, the school was closed and there was nobody to receive them. But the books have been printed,” he stated.
The PS assured that the government is committed to ensuring that all learners have adequate teaching and learning materials.
“We have distributed books to all learning areas on a ratio of 1:1. One book to one learning pupil in the nine learning areas,” he said.
The distribution exercise of textbooks to schools has been an annual event since the inception of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Addressing the media, Belio further noted that the Teacher's Service Commission (TSC) has posted 46,000 teachers who were on internship and another cohort of 20,000 teachers.
“This morning I engaged with the chair of the Teachers Service Commission and they informed me that they have issued posting instructions to all the 20000 who were taken in for internship, 46, 000 who were converted to permanent and pensionable and the upgraded 10,000 teachers,” he said.
“As we talk now, we have more than 80,000 who can teach at our junior schools. However, we still have a shortage because we have not attained the number required.”
The Ministry of Education launched the distribution of Grade 9 textbooks in October 2024 to facilitate adequate teaching and learning in the competency-based curriculum (CBC).
Education CS Julius Ogamba stated that the Ministry procured a total of 1,000,000 copies of learner´s books and 24,000 copies of teacher´s guides for each learning area in Grade 9.
The Sub County offices are expected to file reports with the Ministry of Education on the status of book distribution by January 31, 2025.
