In January this year, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) unveiled a new list of English and Swahili set books for learners in secondary schools.

The English literature novel category has Paul B. Vitta’s political satire novel Father of Nations that replaced Henry Ole Kulet’s Blossoms of the Savannah. John Lala’s play The Samaritan replaced Henrik Ibsen’s The Doll’s house. The new list will have a four-year run from 2022-2026.

For decades, set books for candidate classes have followed an easily predictable path in terms of authorial ownership and thematic concerns. Texts selected have to be politically correct with enough morality lessons to fill a large drum. The argument is that school systems should never be used to put ‘wrong’ ideas in young minds. This explains why a text seen to be glorifying any behavior frowned upon by the society is shelved. Set books must only cultivate a well-behaved personality.

Additionally, all such books possess subtle didactic value that only overshadows the manifest enjoyment imaginative literature is designed to elicit in a reader. It is a fact that the most memorable books are the ones a reader enjoyed most. Forced morality in literary works should never take precedence over the sheer intellectual enjoyment a well-written book carries. Sadly, KICD has subscribed to this approach.

It is puzzling that despite the transformation in the educational sector under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), KICD has not seen a need to explore alternative writings that transcend humdrum thematic concerns that have defined literature lessons in schools for ages.

Before Kulet’s Blossoms of Savannah, there was Margaret Ogola’s The River and The Source that had replaced Ngugi’s The River Between in 2012. This list of books goes back to the times of Amadi’s The Concubine and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Granted, those who interacted intimately with the texts recall characters like Waiyaki, Akoko, Chief Nanga, Shylock, Ihuoma and Okonkwo amongst others. That these books are worthy is not in doubt. They have their own strengths that make them suitable for learners.

However, KICD needs to wake up to the realities of our time. It should strive to accommodate diverse and experimental writings that excite the mind. It is self-defeatists to confine imaginative literature to some rigid moralistic structure and expect young minds to become quintessential creatives as envisioned by the CBC! 

What is troubling is a feeling that KICD, like the defunct Kenya Institute of Education, has a modicum of subliminal bias for literary works by authors of a certain age or at least works that contain predetermined lessons. Whether this is a coincidence or not is beyond many of us.

However, that KICD has a penchant for recycling set books that had been selected in past years is not in doubt. It would be excusable if Kenya was a ‘literary desert’ but is not the case. The country is currently teeming with diverse top-notch writings that are debated at international platforms. That such works are rarely acknowledged at home is ‘criminal’! The books’ selection process is very competitive. The publisher and the author are guaranteed millions of shillings if KICD gives a nod to a book. To avoid canvassing, KICD even adopted blind tendering process to give all submitted works an equal chance of winning.

While such efforts are laudable, the focus should be more on the content than process. Many great books published by local writers can easily meet the threshold required by KICD for use in school. What better satire can we cite except Binyavanga’s How to Write About Africa?

Isn’t this theme topical at a time the image of Africa is seen through the jaundiced eye of the West? What of Yvonne Awuor’s Dust? Isn’t this beautiful story of crime, family-strife and redemption relevant for Kenya today? What of Khadija’s House of Rust and its magical realism? What of Kombani’s Of Pawn and Players? Isn’t it a book to read when the pandemic of gambling is unleashed amongst the youth? There are more writers in this category.

KICD needs to open up readership for Kenyan learners. It should seize the opportunity to introduce in schools assorted writings that speak of current realities. Above all, it must turn reading literature in class from the drudge that it is into an undertaking of sheer fun and enjoyment.

Ngugi, Ogola, Oludhe, Ogot et al are soaring foundation writers. Still, KICD can look beyond them and see a crop of brilliant emergent writers with something equally worthy to offer.

They too deserve recognition.

—The writer comments on topical issues