Stop this propaganda on school books

The perception among many social media users at the moment is textbooks being used in schools are full of errors.

Well, this has found its way onto mainstream media, and which has to shine a bigger spotlight on the issue.

The reality is some mischievous social media user has flagged off an ‘error’, in a page, in a book approved to be used in schools, and based on their interpretation, decided that it is an ‘unforgivable mistake’.

What follows is a social media frenzy, a public lynching, if you will, calling for the collective head of all publishers.

By the time truth is sieved from the choking cloud of sensationalism, the damage has already been done and the original aim of the faceless keyboard ‘activist’ has been achieved.

COMPREHENSION

Gullible social media users saw a story involving a politician and a helicopter and aided by a partisan commentary, immediately put on their political lenses and joined in the lynch fest.

What many failed to notice was this is a comprehension passage meant for pupils in lower classes.

At this level of education, emphasis is mainly on reading and basic comprehension skills. Here, pupils will be asked simple questions like what they remember from the passage as well as being asked to give other examples, similar to what they just read.

And not unless you live in a hole, you will admit that helicopters (some owned by MCAs) landing, especially in school playgrounds, is a common occurrence.

It is therefore profoundly baffling that adults are employing their ‘superior’ analytical skills to deconstruct a Grade Two comprehension passage.

SKILLS

As chairman of Kenya Publishers Association, I want to make it abundantly clear here that Grade Two pupils are not being taught analytical skills; that is too advanced for them.

Arguing that a Grade Two essay will have negative future implications on readers is to woefully miss the point if not being downright mischievous.

Besides, who remembers what they read in Standard Two, complete with all the subtle meanings?

Analytical skills come in to play much later in the educational journey, especially when students are studying literary texts set books.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the social media commentators and analysts exercised their skills on advanced texts like Henry ole Kulet’s Blossoms of the Savannah or Chozi la Heri by Asumpta Matei, which are set books and whose understanding Form Four students will be examined during their KCSE exams?

From where I sit, I can assure readers that the process of approving a book to be used in schools is quite rigorous; a quality control process where international standards on content relevance and accuracy are met.

The writer is the chairman of Kenya Publishers Association.