Education CS Fred Matiangi in a past event. [Photo/SoftKenya.com]
The government has announced plans to acquire and deliver text books to schools in a move it says is aimed at dismantling cartels ripping big from the current criteria.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i Friday, the government will from early next year take over the responsibility which is currently entrusted with education officials at the lowest levels.
He termed price manipulation and corruption among the issues that have raised concerns from his ministry,forcing it to leap into action.
''The ministry has decided that it will revise the current text book policy starting January.We have noted that a lot of illegal transactions happen between the fund allocation and book acquisition. For instance,Rwanda orders her books from here and they are published in Kenya but the Rwandan government buys them at a cheaper price than us,'' he said. ''This means that something fishy is going on in our case,'' he added.
He reiterated the government's commitment to better the level of education saying that the schools should have achieved the one text book per student ratio by now.
''Since free primary and secondary education started,the government has pumped 300 billion shillings in to the schools for buying of text books and this means that by now,we should have reached a ratio of a book per student or pupil,'' said the CS.