The government yesterday clarified that parents do not have to drop books they had bought following the rationalisation announced by the ministry, which saw the merging and dropping of some school subjects.
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) said despite the review of subjects, education stakeholders can continue procuring books for learners up to Grade 8. But for Grade 9, the KICD asked parents to hold on until mid-2024 for further guidance.
“It is fine for parents to buy books. Even for the books the government distributes, we are still asking that teachers draw content from the books distributed according to the previous learning areas,” said KICD chief executive Charles Ong’ondo.
The institute has approved six books for Grade 9 learners in 2025.
The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) pioneer class will be in Grade 8 next year.
From January, learners in primary and junior schools will start the academic calendar with fewer subjects and lessons per day.
This is after the Education ministry reduced its workload following a review of the curriculum.
In pre-primary currently, five learning areas will remain the same. At lower primary (Grades 1 to 3), there are nine learning areas, which will be reduced to seven.
At the upper primary (Grades Four to Six), there are 10, now reduced to eight.
Junior School, which runs from Grade Seven to Nine has the biggest reduction in core subjects from 14 to nine, which are mandatory for all learners.
Different publications
The lessons have also been reduced from 45 to 40 a week.
Prof Ong’ondo said when a learning area is rationalised, it does not render the content published obsolete.
“It’s just that you can draw from different publications. For example, if you look at agriculture and nutrition, a lot of nutrition content will exist in home science books, maybe even in more detail and agriculture information will be in agriculture books,” he said.
For instance, in Creative Arts, Prof Ong’ondo said there are books out on visual arts, performing arts and physical education.
However, learners and teachers will be drawing information from other books but building on the content taught.
“The curriculum designs will guide on what content they are looking for. But as I had indicated earlier, for Grade Nine, we shall now be calling books, according to the rationalised learning areas,” said Prof Ong’ondo.
He added that the KICD shall guide publishers on Grade Nine books based on rationalised learning areas.
“Later on, we shall even be calling for Grades Seven, Eight and Nine and upper primary. But for now, the books out there are relevant to the curriculum, they are just drawing content from different sources,” said Prof Ong’ondo.
For the rationalised areas, in the early years up to Grade Four, he said KICD would evaluate new books next April and distribute them in the market by September.
“To the parents who have bought the books, you have not wasted your money. The books will be relevant to the children, the teachers will be able to draw content from those books and learners given assignments based on the same books,” he said.
Prof Ong’ondo urged the parents who have not bought the books to buy them as per the guidance of the teachers.
He said the government would distribute Grade Eight books based on the previous learning areas.
National Parents Association chairperson Silas Obuhatsa said the rationalisation of subjects is a major reprieve for parents.
Kenya Private Schools Association chairman Charles Ochome said: “It’s a win-win situation for everybody. The child has the lesser commitment and different assignments, and the schools have also on the number of teachers required to teach these subjects.”
