Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu announced that the government would provide all Grade Seven students with textbooks for all the subjects undertaken at the Junior Secondary School level.
Speaking during the launch of the distribution of the textbooks on Friday, January 27, the CS indicated that the Kenya Kwanza administration was keen on continuing with the textbook policy adopted in the past administration.
Machogu also directed school heads to report on the distribution of the books to the Sub-County offices by March 29, 2023.
On the other hand, he warned that only textbooks approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) would be used for teaching.
He urged stakeholders to be keen on the list that had been released by KICD. The list, he stated, could be accessed on the KICD website.
Further, the CS cautioned students and schools against destroying the books noting that replacements would be made in 2027.
"Schools should take care of books as there will be no other supply for a period of four years," he stated.
Machogu also expressed that his ministry sought to help the Grade Seven students transit to the next grade in good time. To this effect, he stated that books for the second Junior Secondary School (JSS) class would be distributed by December 2023.
Consequently, he urged parents to send their students to schools on time noting that the reporting date was still January 30, 2023.
In response to the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) cheating claims, the CS refuted allegations of mass cheating among students adding that many of the allegations could not be proved adequately.
Machogu asked Kenyans to desist from berating schools from the Nyanza region noting that they were being targeted unfairly.
"Each of us comes from a community. We all come from communities. We do not have to profile people.
"If we (Kisii and Nyamira counties) were to be ranked, we would have been between 36 and 40. In Nyanza, the best county was Siaya. Migori had 66 As, Kisumu 59, Kisii 50, and Nyamira had only 31 As.
