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Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) has  assured that Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) textbooks will be tracked to ensure no book is lost or ends up in a wrong school.

KICD Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr Joel Mabonga, said cases of schools getting more books than the number of learners or some consignments not arriving in identified schools, will no longer be reported owing to a tracking system that will also uniquely identify each book. 

 “Feedback we receive is helping us put in place proper safeguards to ensure government distribution of  support materials remains above board,” said Dr Mabonga. 

He said tracking process will involve getting real time updates on the location of curriculum support materials to ensure they are transported to the right schools, as per the distribution schedule.

To check against use of unapproved curriculum support materials, the tracking system will be able to instantly confirm authenticity of the course books through the use of Global System for Mobile communication (GSM).

Mabonga also explained that the message about distribution and quality of books will be relayed to the institute for appropriate interventions.

He said that Grade  Five textbooks have been evaluated and are ready for printing after publishers made corrections as per the feedback from evaluators mandated to ensure books with errors are not released to schools.

 Publishers had until August 15 to re-submit the improved course materials in 16 learning areas to KICD for final verification.

 “Despite the gloomy picture painted by the pandemic, we have to remain ahead in the ongoing curriculum reforms.

Besides upholding quality of educational content, the books must be in schools on time to guarantee effective curriculum delivery,” Mabonga explained.

Dr Mabonga was responding to parents and learners concerns about the state of CBC implementation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in the abrupt closure of schools in mid-March.

CBC being implemented in phases is currently at Grade Four and unveiling of the list of books is a deliberate measure to ensure the country is prepared for Grade Five roll-out.

Out of the 18 publishers that were invited to tender for government distribution of course materials, 9 were awarded to supply the books to all public schools.