Report shows gap in East Africa education standards

Less than seven out of 10 of all children aged 10-16 in Kenya have mastered standard two literacy and numeracy skills, study has revealed.

The report by Uwezo, a programme of regional NGO Twaweza, titled Are our children learning? Literacy and numeracy across East Africa states that children from poorer households consistently show lower learning skills.

The report states that many children across East Africa are not learning basic literacy and numeracy skills.

The report notes that only two out of 10 pupils can read and do basic mathematics at Standard Two level.

“By the time they reach the last year of primary school, one out of four East African children — about 24 per cent — still have not acquired these skills,” reveals the report that will be released on Wednesday in Nairobi.

Data on learning outcomes, school conditions and households was collected in 2013 in every district across the region through citizen-led household-based assessments.

Learning outcomes were assessed among children aged six to 16 through tests set at Standard Two level.

In Kenya, 64 per cent passed a literacy and a numeracy test, in Tanzania it was 48 per cent and in Uganda 36 per cent.

Kenyan districts took 10 out of 11 positions in the ranking that was topped by Mbeya Urban in Tanzania.

Among the best performing districts were Gatundu, Nyeri North, Nairobi East, Laikipia East, Kiambu, Lari, Imenti North, Ruiru, Tigania and Maara.

HIGH ENROLMENT

Wealth also appeared to influence learning outcomes in all three countries, which have large gaps between different wealth groups.

Despite the larger disparities in Kenya, those in households that live on less than a dollar a day still, on average, perform better than Ugandan households that live on more than a dollar a day.

However, enrolment is high with all three countries having over 90 per cent enrolment rates.

The report notes that learning outcomes are high in Kenya and low in Uganda and within each country, learning outcomes are best in urban and more developed districts and worst in remote and rural districts.

The report notes that Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have missed the target of having all children access quality learning.

The average Kenyan child outperforms the average Tanzania and Ugandan child by a notable margin.

Compared to their Tanzanian counterparts, Kenyan children are able to pass both tests and nearly 30 per cent more Kenyan children are able to pass both tests compared to Ugandan children.

Data and Voice Director at Twaweza, John Mugo, observed that the large disparities between and within countries, particularly along socio-economic lines, suggest that the region may be becoming more divided.

“In addition, the lack of meaningful improvements in learning outcomes over the three rounds of Uwezo assessments point to a lack of strong action to tackle our education crisis,” said Dr Mugo.

Twaweza Executive Director Aidan Eyakuze said the progress made to increase access and gender parity is commendable but the region must ensure that the national figures do not hide local variations.

Uwezo assessed more than 325,000 children aged six to 16 in just under 150,000 households in 366 districts in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In addition data was collected from over 10,000 public primary schools.