New textbooks are sub-standard, teachers now say

Newly-elected Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association national chairman Nicholas Gathemia (centre) is flanked by other national officials.[Gideon Maundu]

Course books used in the new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) education system should be evaluated to improve the content to the required standards, teachers have said.

They said the course books were far below required standards. Primary school headteachers meeting in Mombasa also said teachers were left out in the selection of the textbooks for learners.

The Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (KePSHA) now wants the Government to consult teachers and other education experts before purchasing textbooks for Grade Four pupils.

The over 7,500 headteachers are converging in Mombasa from today for a four-day meeting to, among other things, evaluate the implementation of the CBC and come up with proposals to make it better.

KePSHA leadership said the meeting, being held at the Kenya School of Revenue Administration, will also deliberate on how public schools can compete with private institutions.

The association’s chairman Nicholas Gathemia said the textbooks distribution model had failed to achieve its desired intention of improving pupil-to-textbook ratio.

The headteachers are expected to deliberate challenges facing the implementation of CBC like shortage of teachers, inadequate infrastructure and funds.

“In the past, the Government used to give us money so that we could sit down and evaluate or vet books for a particular subject. That does not happen anymore,” said Gathemia.

He said they support the curriculum and claimed that it had drastically reduced the cost of education in the country.

CBC challenges

He, however, said the implementation of CBC is still facing challenges such as the restricted choice and variety of books, poor quality of books in terms of content and packaging. They also said that there is favouritism in selection of the course books.

Gathemia said headteachers should be involved in selecting textbooks and come up with a seamless distribution model.

“Headteachers are left with the burden of transporting the books from the headquarters and sub-counties despite the fact that we have no budget for that,” said Gathemia.

The State has pledged to spend Sh20 billion annually to achieve a 1:1 pupil-textbook ratio to make the new curriculum a success.

The conference will be opened tomorrow by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha. Teachers Service Comission CEO Nancy Macharia is expected to address the meeting on Wednesday.

The primary and secondary school headteachers have made Mombasa their destination of choice for their annual conferences.

Today, nominees of Teacher of the Year Award, Headteacher of the Year Award and most Innovative Teacher of the Yea will make their presentations.

The theme of the conference is, “Management of the Current Reforms in the Education Sector and School Administrators’ Role”.