Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has apologized following concerns regarding controversial content in the “Certificate Biology for Form Three” textbook.
KICD which is the body mandated by approving curriculum texts in the country asserted that some aspects of the book published by East African Educational Publishers contain sentences in bad taste.
Its Director Charles Ong’ondo in a statement averred that the organization has already assembled a review panel to investigate concerns and come up with necessary strategies to address them.
“The Institute acknowledges that indeed the sentences above could be interpreted to suggest that indecent dressing is the main cause of rape and may also insinuate “victim blaming” in case of rape. Therefore, KICD offers an apology to readers who consider the quoted sentences in the book Certificate Biology for Form Three to be misleading, for not detecting this during the evaluation in 2005,” read the statement by Ong’ondo in part.
The controversial content found in the book suggested that victims of rape could be blamed for indecent dressing.
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According to Ong’ondo, the team comprises curriculum development officers, quality assurance experts, and educators.
This panel will assess the problematic content and recommend revisions to the publisher within two weeks.
This comes on the back of public uproar over some sections of the publication that asserted that rape can be averted through decent dress code.
KICD stated that it shall issue an advisory to the publisher on what revisions to make to avoid any potential misinterpretations by the learners.
Likewise, schools will also be informed after the review on how to guide the learners on the relevant topic.
