Kenyan publishers protest as US firm gets books monopoly for lower primary

The ministry of Education is on the spotlight for allowing an American firm to influence the content of curriculum taught in lower primary schools by introducing foreign ideologies under a project dubbed ‘Tusome”.

The American non-governmental organisation, Research Triangle International (RTI), is also faulted for seeking to interfere with the ongoing review of the education curriculum.

The Saturday Nation has learnt that some government officials have been bulldozing the adoption of books published by foreign firms and funded by foreign donors, and whose content is questionable, and at the exclusion of local learning materials. Not only is this interfering with learning content, but it also stifles local publishing and negates the spirit of the Constitution that promotes indigenous culture.

Already a case has been lodged in court calling for the suspension of a directive which gives RTI, an American NGO, the right to develop, publish and supply learning materials to schools through the Tusome programme.

Taking its name from the Kiswahili word for “let’s read,” Tusome is designed to improve primary literacy outcomes for more than 3.5 million children in Standards One to Three. The project is funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID), among other donors.

Lobbies such as a teachers’ union and a publishers’ association, as well experts, have raised the alarm over the prospect of “foreigners meddling in education reform.”

Last week, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Wilson Sossion questioned the role of a foreign organisation in the curriculum review, arguing it was seeking to determine and influence curriculum content.

The Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) also fears that the government now wants to give the mandate of developing and producing textbooks to RTI, in clear breach of constitutional provisions that guard against single-sourcing.

ECONOMIC HITMEN

Books under the Tusome Project, complete with the government seal, are already being used in schools.

We have established that Tusome books, published by RTI, are not contained in the Orange Book, which is the ministry’s recognised catalogue on books vetted and approved annually for use in schools by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

Mr Lawrence Njagi, the newly-elected chairman of Kenya Publishing Association, expressed concern that a foreign firm has been allowed to do what local publishers have always done.

“We have been doing this job competently for years and it should be left that way. RTI should stick to research if it is to play the role — otherwise, we cannot allow intrusive foreign firms to come and take over what Kenyans have always done themselves,” said Mr Njagi, who is also the CEO of Mountain Top Publishers.

He adds that books used in Kenyan schools must have local content and be grounded on our cultural set-ups, adding: “Giving foreigners the exclusive role of publishing books for our children is downright dangerous and counterproductive.”

Writing in the Daily Nation, Mr Sossion says Knut, which is an interested party in education reform, abhors “a situation where our education curriculum is determined or influenced by external organisations. They should be delinked from the process…”

Whistleblowers warn that the government may have been hoodwinked by ‘economic hit men’ to give them a free rein under the Tusome project. 

RTI is one of the largest and most well-funded American NGOs, running various programmes in several developing countries.

Under the programme, launched in 2015, the US government will print and distribute more than 12 million books books that have not been vetted by KICD.

Publishers, who have been quietly trying to resolve the matter with the Ministry of Education without success, argue, that the ministry’s decision contravenes the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, which prohibits single sourcing.

The National Policy on Textbook Publishing, Procurement and Supply for Public Schools provides for comprehensive evaluation, approval and procurement of books. KICD is required to vet books and approve a maximum of six course books per subject, per class, and which in turn, are published in the Orange Book. Schools are then required to choose any of the approved course books.

This policy runs the risk of being thrown out of the window with the emergence of RTI.

Ordinarily, KICD develops the syllabus, which publishers interpret to prepare learning materials. These materials are then vetted and approved by KICD to be used in schools.

Our investigations reveal KICD has been taking officials from RTI to seminars, two of which have been held in Nakuru and Mombasa.

Protesting these meetings, Mr Sossion said: “A month ago, one of those organisations convened a week-long workshop for some of the technical team in Nakuru…it was actually to influence the content of the curriculum and teaching and learning materials.”

Abdalla Hussein Ali, an independent education specialist and curriculum developer in Nairobi, wonders why school books should be developed by Americans.

“What happened to the syllabus designed by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development? What is the local input into the so-called ‘education sector reforms’? Why have the various proposals put forth locally not been considered?”

He sees the ‘free books’ initiative as driven more by monetary gains rather than helping Kenyan children, adding the project is not sustainable.

“It aims is to brainwash the young minds; and its true beneficiaries are the Western technocrats,” he says.   

LAZY TEACHERS

Andrew Epiche, a teacher of English, says Kenyan learners are being used as the guinea pigs of the project.

“We have English and Kiswahili books and videos that have serious structural deficiencies and teachers are forced to follow a strict script by the curriculum support officers. The creativity of the teachers and their appreciation of the special space their learners hold is lost in the process,” he says.

Mr David Muita, the managing director of Moran Publishers, warns that the project is not only bound to affect the curriculum content, but has also devastatingly distorted the market place for educational books.

He also faults the programme for assuming that all the children have the same ability, an assumption, he warns, will make the work of lazy teachers easy. 

“Home grown solutions are always best and I believe we have come of age to determine the destiny of our children and our great nation,” Mr Muita says.

A source familiar with the proceedings told Saturday Nation that RTI justified its entry into the country by carrying out routine and very ‘subjective researches’.

“The well publicised results of these researches indicate that Kenyan school children in Standard Six cannot read materials prepared for Standard Two pupils. They then go ahead to provide solutions to the problems and that is publishing of the Tusome books.” All these activities, our source says, are aimed at showing how ineffective the current system of education is, which again justifies their ‘intervention measures”.

Contacted, the KICD director Dr Julius Juan said the issue is now subject to court interpretation as some of the stakeholders had moved to court.

However, he said that RTI had submitted the books to KICD for evaluation before he joined KICD.

“It is true RTI submitted the books to KICD before I joined KICD and they were evaluated and went through the ministerial vetting committee and were approved and that is the document that is available to those who are going to court,” he said.

Despite promising several times to come back to us, RTI Chief of Party in Kenya Salome Ong’ele had not respond by the time of going to press.