Parents buying books for their children. According to a report, textbooks cost much less than they are sold in the market. [Photo/Thestar]
Parents are set to be relieved by the huge burden of buying textbooks for their children when the government implements supply of books next year.
In the new plan that is set to start in January 2018, the government, through the ministry of Education will supply books to all schools.
This plan will also save the taxpayer Sh13.8 billion, with the cost estimated at Sh7.5 billion, down from Sh21.4 billion currently.
This will see an end to the cartels that have been running the textbook sales, who pocket huge sums of money.
According to a report by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, the prices of textbooks are much lower than what they are currently sold in the market.
The report states that the government will supply books directly to 28,000 public schools public primary schools and 7,000 secondary institutions.
“The best and lowest priced book was selected for each subject per class from the books submitted,” the report says.
Each student will receive a copy of the learner’s book for each subject under the new programme.
And each primary school will receive five copies of the teacher’s guide for each subject while every secondary school will receive 10 copies of the teacher’s guide for each subject.