Nairobi, KENYA: The government has promised to give out 6 textbooks to each form one student who will be reporting to school starting January next year.
Speaking during the launch of form one selection programme on Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary Dr.Fred Matiang’i said that the move is to curb misappropriation of public funds and resources that had been on the rise in counties and sub-county schools.
“So effectively this class we are selecting, all form one who will report from 9th will be given 6 texts books;English, Kiswahili, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and the textbooks are going to bear a specific mark so that they can also be found in procured bookshops, so my sisters and brothers don’t ask any form students to come to school with textbooks.” He said.
He added that starting from 4th of January they will flag off the distributions of textbooks across the country for all form ones as a way of achieving equity.
Matiang’i argued that the government has been losing a lot of money by disbursing money to the school to buy books only to find out that schools were overpricing the figures.
“I was showing Prof. Magoha of Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Chairman and he was shocked that books that we were told are costing Sh790, now cost Sh194 through the procurement system we are having,” Matiang’i added.
Matiang’i, on the other hand, has dissolved boards of public primary and secondary schools that share a compound, citing that such schools will now be run by an overall principal with a deputy for primary and another for the secondary school for inclusivity part of it.
Meanwhile, those who sat for (KCPE) this year and qualified for admission to National Schools can now send their index numbers to 20042 to know their form one placement.
The number only works for those to be placed in national school, as for those who will be joining county and extra county schools will have to wait till the whole the form one selection exercise is done.
The top performer Goldalyn Kakuya has been admitted to the Kenya High School.
