Book suppliers face low gross sales on junior secondary transition

Book suppliers face low gross sales on junior secondary transition

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Book suppliers and uniform merchants within the nation face lowered gross sales of their respective merchandise following the transition of learners to junior secondary.

According to a writer who spoke to Business Hub on situation of anonymity, the transition has led them to expertise lowered earnings in comparison with after they had been coping with the 8-4-4 system textbooks.

“At a time like this in the previous years, we could have generated a significant amount of revenue from the sales. This transition, however, has proven to be a challenge as the orders which we are getting are quite low,” stated the writer.

“Even the clients themselves are not sure of the kind of books that are required by the government because of the push and pull situation by stakeholders.” Contrary to the above provider’s sentiments, Joseph Nyiri, assistant supervisor on the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) stated the uptake of the newly authorized books has been on excessive as they’ve been capable of produce and launch an excellent variety of books for the reason that introduction of the brand new curriculum.

“We have been able to publish all the approved books by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). We have distributed about 90 per cent of our publications to schools and bookshops in the country. We have distributed over 20,000 copies of each title that is required in the new curriculum,” stated. Nyiri acknowledged that they stopped producing Form One textbooks particularly in 2023 when the programme was being applied. However, they produced as per the demand of the shoppers.

“We stopped producing the books because of the new roll and currently everything is going on well. However, the previous books were still being used by schools in preparation for the national examinations as it covers all the syllabus from form 1,” he defined. Uniform suppliers too are complaining of low purchases as most prospects are shopping for uniforms in single pairs in comparison with when learners had been becoming a member of Form One underneath the earlier system.

Anne Musumi, a faculty uniform dealer at a neighborhood textile market in Nairobi acknowledged that in comparison with the period of the 8-4-4 system, the demand of the uniforms has considerably levelled down.

“Customers have now resorted to single pair items because most of their children will be commuting to school unlike previously when the majority of the learners were joining boarding schools. Parents during that period were buying the uniforms in pairs,” she stated.

According to her, this issue coupled with different broader ones have resulted in a surge within the costs afecting the buying energy of the shoppers. “You know we also have to get profit at the end of the day and if they buy single pairs, that means less profits. Our suppliers have also increased the prices of the diferent materials that we use in designing the uniforms,” Musumi stated.

“So, for us to get at least a profit, we have to pass down the burden to the consumer because again it is also the peak season,” she defined. She added that the costs are decided by the kind of materials that the purchasers need however they’re all barely excessive due to the afore talked about issue.

“We have different textures such as thicker, Kijana, sunflower, decron among others and at the moment a single pair of shorts from the most afordable material ranges between Sh550 and Sh650 up from Sh250 and Sh500 range. The others range between Sh750 and Sh850,” she stated. The transition to junior secondary faculty has equally offered a big problem to oldsters as a result of hiked costs of the brand new necessities amid the difficult financial instances.

Speaking to Business Hub, Sandra Nduta, a guardian, complained concerning the complexity of the transition, stating that the costs have shot up surpassing her expectations but different bills reminiscent of faculty charges haven’t been adequately catered for.

“The prices are really high but I just have to buy because they are a necessity. For school uniforms for instance, I have visited diferent shops but the prices are still high so, I’ll just have to dig deep into the pocket at least to get the right item,” she stated. “Currently a faculty trousers price Sh650, a minimum of one which the varsity needs.

This is sort of double as a result of initially we might get them from Sh300. We haven’t even added the bus fare and pocket cash,” Nduta lamented. On his half, John Okumu acknowledged that the costs have afected his buying energy and that he should break from his custom of shopping for them in pairs “Initially I used to purchase the uniforms in pairs to keep away from future bills however now I should purchase one to kick begin the time period as I search for different avenues to cater for the second.

If it turns into more durable, he’ll simply must survive contemplating the actual fact he can be commuting to highschool,” he stated. With the brand new curriculum, secondary faculties is not going to be having new Form One college students after the Ministry of Education rolled out the 8-4-4 curriculum from main faculties in 2023, which means that secondary faculties can be having fewer variety of college students this 12 months.

This may even be a reprieve for the ministry as it would scale back the amount of cash that can be disbursed in capitation. In a neighborhood publication early final 12 months, Basic schooling Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang stated: “We shall not be having Form One class so the under–funding will go down to about Sh11 billion and that is what the Education Committee is trying to ensure is taken care of in this 2024/25 financial year.”