Controversial Book Said to be Approved for Kids Disowned by Curriculum Authority

Blood Ties, Storymoja Series

Blood Ties, a book from Storymoja Life series caught the eyes of Kenyan parents who caused an uproar regarding its use of obscene language in its text, yet the ministry of Education approved it for class 6 student as curriculum.

When TextBook Centre learnt that Blood Ties was making rounds on social media drawing negative attention to its business, forcing it to pull down the book from its shelves and requested the publisher to recall them. Apparently Blood Ties was not approved by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) as not all books in the market are okayed.

“Text Book Centre believes in upholding high moral standards and raising a generation which is not only educated but also ethical. Our sincere gratitude goes to citizens of goodwill who brought this matter to our attention. We appreciate your continued support,” TBC commented on the matter.

Responding to the allegations, Story Moja Managing editor noted that the book covers on contemporary societal issues, but the title of the book was not submitted to or approved by Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development but was catalogued for high school readers.

“We have not ascertained the authenticity of the allegations that the title was recommended for class 6 pupils, we would like to clarify that the title was listed among the catalogue for high school readers and above. We continue to uphold ourselves as responsive, reputable and responsible publishers and we want to assure that public that we only KICD approved and age-appropriate for use in schools,” read the statement by Storymoja.

Teachers and parents are expected to rely on the Orange book to buy the right books. KICD has previously responded to worrying content whose origin was from foreign countries.