The Ministry of Education has indicated a policy shift in future textbook procurement, saying it will adopt recommendations from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (2023) Report.
Education PS Julius Bitok said the procurement of books will shift from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to the School Equipment Production Unit (SEPU).
In a letter dated April 9 addressed to KICD CEO Charles Ong’ondo, Bitok authorized the completion of the procurement process for Grade 11 textbooks in line with the Constitution, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015, and its regulations.
The move ended weeks of internal wrangles that had stalled the Ksh 11 billion tender.
Textbook Procurement to Shift from KICD to SEPU
At the heart of the dispute was the revelation that some top officials attempted to block the award in favor of specific publishers, while KICD maintained it had the sole mandate to evaluate and approve curriculum support materials.
“Please note that going forward, the Ministry will implement the recommendation of Presidential Working Party on Education Report (PWPER) on procurement of textbooks,’ read the notice in part.
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According to the Presidential Working Party on Education Report, some learning areas, such as indigenous and foreign languages and SNE, lack Learning and Teaching Materials (textbooks), and publishers show no interest in developing them.
The report noted that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, the publisher of last resort, has inadequate capacity to publish such materials.
The report recommended that the Ministry restructure SEPU into the School Learning and Instructional Materials Center (SLIMC) to coordinate the procurement and distribution of MoE-approved textbooks and other learning resources.
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Presidential Working Party Recommendations
The Ministry was directed to ensure that KICD liaises with the School Learning and Instructional Materials Center (SLIMC) to facilitate the procurement of digital resources hosted on the Kenya Education Cloud (KEC).
It was also supposed to train publishers and digital content creators on the development of quality content for both regular and Special Needs Education (SNE) learners.
“SLIMC to procure for digital resources hosted in Kenya Education Cloud (KEC),” read part of the report.
The Cabinet had approved the dissolution of SEPU, among 41 other state corporations, and earmarked it for a merger to reduce the wastage of public resources.
“These reforms have been necessitated by increasing fiscal pressures arising from constrained government resources, the demand for high-quality public services, and the growing public debt burden,” a dispatch from the Cabinet meeting reads in part.
SEPU is a government agency under the Ministry of Education with a sole mandate of designing, manufacturing, supplying, and distributing science materials and apparatus to educational institutions in Kenya.
