State publishing firm and printer Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) is among nine firms that have won a Sh2.97 billion tender to supply Grade seven textbooks under the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Nine Out of the 28 firms that had applied to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) are expected to publish 19 textbooks that the government will supply to schools ahead of roll-out of the new curriculum to Grade seven in January.
The publishers will begin printing in September to meet the deadline of distributing to schools in December.
“We are making final corrections through interactive sessions with the KICD before we start printing the books,” said the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) chairman Kamau Kiarie.
Apart from KLB, other winning firms include East African Educational Publishers (EAEP), Mountain Top Publishers (MTP), Moran Publishers, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), Spotlight, Longhorn, StoryMoja and Oxford University Press (OUP).
The KICD evaluates course materials submitted against curriculum designs to ensure publishers align content with what teachers instruct.
The publishers are required to incorporate pertinent and contemporary issues and community learning service learning as provided for in the Basic Education Curriculum Framework.
After the selection of the firms, the KICD education experts and publishers converge to polish the approved books before printing.
KLB will supply Islamic Religious Education (IRE), pre tech, pre-career and Kiswahili books; Moran will print English and Life Skills books while Mountain Top will deliver Home Science and Business Studies books.
Mathematics and Social Studies go to EAEP, Agriculture (Story Moja), Science (OUP), Christian Religious Education and Visual Arts (JFK), Health Education and Physical Education &Sports (Spotlight).
Longhorn will publish French and computer books that have been listed as optional subjects under the CBC.