Ministry explains textbook evaluation process

Wed, 03 May 2017 12:00:54 +0000

By SANDRA MACHIMA

EDUCATION materials distributed in schools are rigorously evaluated before they are authorized by the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) to ensure they meet the required standard, Ministry of General Education’s CDC specialist, research and evaluation, Kennedy Jinaina, has said.

But Mr Jinaina said the ministry was faced with challenges in book evaluation because authors wanted to use shortcuts and were reluctant to follow guidelines.

He said the Ministry of Education, through the CDC, did not allow any material that was not approved by its office to be used in schools, saying heads of schools who procured such materials were censured. “Whatever material that is brought to our offices passes through thorough evaluation to ensure it is up to the standard, but the challenge we have sometimes is that some authors want to use shortcuts without following the procedure.

‘‘We have what we call supplementary and course books material to see if the books are written following the topic for a syllabus for a particular grade, which should be accompanied with teacher’s guide to make it complete ,” he said.

He said the essence of evaluating the school materials was to ensure perfection and not to fail the book.

Mr Jinaina explained that the case of substandard books that might have been spotted on the market could have been due to the fact that the first phase of the process of textbook distribution in the new revised curriculum was rushed.

He said publishers were given chance to write back to the CDC in case of any mistakes that were spotted, adding that  they were expected to go and correct the mistakes and bring back the materials for verification for the books to be approved.

“Developing books is not an easy task; it needs adequate time and concerted effort to come up with a desired outcome,” he added.

He said authors and publishers paid K1, 400 per title of a book submitted for evaluation to allow evaluators who were hired to do the job, adding that sometimes the process took long at CDC because some procedures required approval from higher offices such as the ministry permanent secretary.

‘‘This process takes months during which the publishers make corrections and re-submit the textbooks for verification and final approval, and after the textbooks that meet the minimum standard requirements are approved, reports on each textbook are written and conveyed to the publishers.

‘‘And approved books are then compiled and the list is sent to all key stakeholders including schools, procurement department and publishers,” he said.