TEXTBOOKS & MATERIALS

Requesting textbooks and school materials

How a public school draws textbooks, teachers' guides, exercise books, furniture and laboratory consumables from the central and zonal stores. Nothing supplied by the State may be sold or charged to a pupil.

What the stores supply

The Ministry runs a central store in Kano and a store in each of the six zones. Between them they hold the textbooks and teachers' guides for every subject on the Kano curriculum, exercise books, chalk and markers, pupil desks, teacher tables and chairs, laboratory chemicals and glassware, science kits, computers and tablets, sports equipment, first-aid kits and examination stationery.

Every public school draws from that stock on a requisition. There is no charge to the school and no charge to the pupil: the materials are bought from the capitation grant and the education budget and issued against a delivery note. A school never buys from the stores and never pays for a delivery.

Approved private schools do not draw from the stores. They buy their own books to the same curriculum, and the titles the Ministry has approved for each subject and class are published under Resources so that a proprietor is buying the right editions.

Entitlement, per pupil

The standard against which a requisition is assessed. A school below the entitlement is topped up; a school at it draws only replacements.

Level	Item	Entitlement	Replacement cycle
Primary 1 – Primary 6	Textbook, per core subject	One per pupil per subject	Every three years, or on damage
Primary 1 – Primary 6	Exercise books	Six per pupil per term	Each term
Primary 1 – Primary 6	Teachers' guide, per subject	One per teacher per subject	Every three years
JSS 1 – JSS 3	Textbook, per core subject	One per pupil per subject	Every three years, or on damage
JSS 1 – JSS 3	Exercise books	Eight per pupil per term	Each term
SS 1 – SS 3	Textbook, per subject offered	One per pupil per subject offered	Every three years
All levels	Pupil desk and chair	One seating place per pupil	On damage, assessed at inspection
All levels	Teacher table and chair	One set per classroom	On damage
Science and technical	Laboratory consumables	By class size and the practical syllabus	Each term
All levels	First-aid kit	One per school, replenished termly	Each term

The requisition cycle

One main cycle a session, with a top-up window each term for consumables and for a school whose enrolment has grown.

Stock-take, third term

In week three of the third term the head teacher counts what the school holds: usable textbooks by subject and class, teachers' guides, desks and chairs in good order, and laboratory stock. The count is entered in the school account and is the basis of everything that follows.

Requisition filed by the end of week five

The school files the requisition against the projected enrolment for the coming session. The form computes the entitlement from the enrolment and shows the gap, so the school requests the shortfall rather than a wish list.

The local government education office consolidates

The education secretary checks the requisition against the enrolment return and the last inspection report, and consolidates every school in the local government area into one schedule for the zone.

Zonal allocation

The zonal store allocates against available stock, giving priority to schools below entitlement, to new classrooms coming into use and to schools whose last inspection scored Library & Textbooks as Needs Improvement or Inadequate.

Delivery and acknowledgement

Materials are delivered to the school within 30 working days of allocation, against a delivery note in triplicate. The head teacher counts the delivery in the presence of the driver, signs, and enters the items in the school stock register the same day.

Distribution and record

Textbooks are issued to pupils against the class register and recorded by name, so that the book is followed at the end of the session. Exercise books are issued at the start of the term. The stock register is open to inspection at any time.

What may be requisitioned

Anything on this list, against the entitlement. Items outside it are procured centrally and issued rather than requested.

Textbooks, by subject and class, in the approved editions.
Teachers' guides and schemes of work for each subject.
Exercise books, note books and graph books.
Chalk, markers, registers, and record and mark books.
Pupil desks, teacher tables and chairs.
Laboratory chemicals, glassware and science kits.
Computers, tablets and projectors for a school with an ICT centre.
Sports equipment and first-aid kits.
Examination stationery for an accredited centre.
Braille materials, large-print texts and hearing aids for an inclusive unit or a special needs school.

When a delivery is short

Deliveries do fall short: stock runs out at a zonal store, a consignment is split, or a count differs. A shortfall is a matter of record, and the school that records it promptly is the school that gets it made up.

What must not happen is a head teacher accepting a short delivery quietly and then asking parents to make up the difference. That converts a supply problem into an unlawful charge, and it is treated as one.

Count the delivery before the driver leaves, against the delivery note. Do not sign for what has not arrived.
Enter the shortfall on all three copies of the delivery note, and have the driver countersign.
File a discrepancy report through the school account within three working days, with a photograph of the annotated note.
The zonal store must answer within ten working days, either by supplying the balance or by issuing a written statement of the stock position.
An unresolved shortfall is escalated to the Directorate of School Services and appears in the school's file at the next inspection.
Never make up a shortfall by charging pupils, holding a levy, or selling stock the school does hold.

No pupil may be charged for a State-supplied book

Textbooks, teachers' guides, exercise books, furniture and laboratory materials issued from the stores are the property of the State, supplied free to the pupil. No school, teacher, parent-teacher association or committee may sell them, charge a deposit or a caution fee for them, or make their issue conditional on any payment.

A book issued to a pupil is recorded against the pupil's name and returned at the end of the session. A book damaged in ordinary use is replaced by the school without charge. Where an item is deliberately destroyed, the matter is one for the school and the parent, and it may not be turned into a general levy on a class.

Report a charge on 0800 MOE KANO or through the feedback form with the name of the school and the date. The stock register and the delivery notes will show what the school was issued.

Questions head teachers ask

My enrolment grew after I filed the requisition. What now?

File a top-up in the termly window, with the enrolment return that shows the growth. Top-ups are met from zonal buffer stock and are allocated within 15 working days, ahead of the main cycle.

A subject teacher wants a title that is not on the approved list.

The stores issue only the approved editions, because the examination syllabus follows them. A school may propose a title for approval through the zonal office and the curriculum unit, and approved additions appear on the list under Resources.

Half of my desks are broken. Is that a requisition or a repair?

Both routes exist. Furniture needing minor repair is repaired from the capitation grant; furniture beyond repair is written off at inspection and replaced on requisition. The inspection report is what unlocks the replacement, so record it at the visit.

Can I collect from the zonal store myself?

Only by written arrangement with the store, and against the same delivery note. Most schools should not: a collection made without a note and a count is the commonest source of a disputed shortfall.

What happens to books at the end of the session?

They are collected from pupils against the issue record, counted into the stock register and reissued the following session. The three-year replacement cycle assumes that collection, which is why the issue record is checked at inspection.

Do Tsangaya and integrated Islamiyya schools draw from the stores?

Enrolled Tsangaya centres and integrated Islamiyya schools in the integration programme draw the basic-education materials for the curriculum they teach, through the KSQISMB rather than the local government education office. The entitlement is the same.

A parent has offered to buy books for the school. May I accept?

A donation is recorded in the stock register and reported to the local government education office, and it may not be solicited as a condition of anything. What may not happen is a levy dressed as a donation.

File a requisition

Stock-take in week three, requisition by week five, delivery within 30 working days of allocation.