Nairobi, 20 September, 2019 / 12:28 am (ACI Africa).
Kenya is witnessing a controversy around a proposed primary school textbook that has been found to contain adult content with various stakeholders condemning the attempted inclusion of the book in the syllabus. A Catholic Bishop has called for a collective approach in the vetting of content for pupils.
The book whose screenshot was shared online Wednesday September 18, elicited heated debate with comments questioning the kind of content school children in Kenya are exposed to and the process of approving the same.
Some schools had instructed parents with pupils in grade six to purchase the book titled Blood Ties, Kenya’s Textbook Centre, a popular bookstore, confirmed in a press release dated September 18.
“It is very important that the schools only follow only the recommended books by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD),” the Chairman of the Commission for Education and Religious Education of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Bishop Paul Njiru Kariuki told ACI Africa Thursday.
“It is also important that the teachers peruse new books in a syllabus, look at the type of content in there and they also give their own point of view whether that book is appropriate in terms of age,” the bishop of Embu Diocese in Kenya added.
