Nairobi — The Education Ministry is set to investigate schools over the misappropriation of funds meant for the purchase of textbooks.

Education minister Sam Ongeri yesterday said tough action will be taken against errant institutions.

The minister was, however, cautious about claims that the Government may have lost more than Sh5 billion meant for buying textbooks since the inception of the Free Primary Education Programme in 2003.

He said that the information was too fresh for the ministry to give an elaborate statement on the matter.

Be able to help

"To be able to help us deal with this issue, if you are privy to any specific institutions that may have been involved in this, then we will be more than willing to deal with it rather than make a blanket statement, which has no veracity in itself," Prof Ongeri said.

The minister said that tendering and ordering of learning materials was the responsibility of schools' governing bodies.

Prof Ongeri also said that all institutions were audited regularly.

The Education minister was reacting to a report in Monday's Daily Nation in which the Kenya Publishers Association claimed that 50 per cent of funds released to schools each year for the purchase of books were not being used for the intended purpose.