Education CS Fred Matiang'i. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]
Education CS Fred Matiang'i has announced that the government will from next year start distributing text books directly to public schools.
He said the move is aimed at tackling cartels and middlemen who collude with school heads to siphon billions of shillings.
This means schools will no longer receive capitation funds for buying textbooks from January next year at the onset of free day secondary school education and the new curriculum.
The new distribution policy is likely to open a row between the government and book distributors.
Speaking on Friday, the CS expressed concern that many schools were yet to attain the 1:1 learner to textbook ratio.
“I don’t think my conscience will allow me to live a lie and to see the kind of theft that has gone on in the text book racketeering in public schools system. We will fight it with everything we have,” Matiang’i said.
He spoke on Friday during the closing ceremony of the 2017 Annual Luncheon and Private Schools Expo at Moi Educational Centre in Nairobi.