Report reveals most Class Three pupils cannot read English or Kiswahili

A teacher takes Class Three pupils through an English lesson at Kawangware Primary School, Nairobi, on October 5, 2015. A study by Kenya National Examinations Council reveals that majority of Standard Three pupils cannot read English and Kiswahili work for Class One. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The report adds that teaching experience was noted to have a significant influence on learner achievement.
  • The report investigated competence that Standard Three pupils have in Mathematics, English and Kiswahili as well as life skills.
  • Report notes that absenteeism of teachers and pupils in Standard Three remains a major a challenge in schools across the country.

A majority of Standard Three pupils cannot read English and Kiswahili work for Class One, a study by the national examiner has revealed.

The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) report reveals that the percentage of pupils who attained the pre-reading skills for Standard One in both English and Kiswahili is very low at 14.9 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.

“Achievement levels are still low. Whereas majority of the pupils (83.1 per cent and 71.1 per cent) attained Class One and Two competencies in numeracy, only 4.5 per cent of the learners attained the highest competency for Class Four work,” states the report.

The report adds that teaching experience was noted to have a significant influence on learner achievement. It notes that absenteeism of teachers and pupils in Standard Three remains a major a challenge in schools across the country.

The report was released on Tuesday at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi by Basic Education Director-General Leah Rotich on behalf of Education Principal Secretary Bellio Kipsang.

The report investigated competence that Standard Three pupils have in Mathematics, English and Kiswahili as well as life skills.

It cites teacher absenteeism as one of the factors affecting curriculum delivery.

“Syllabus coverage was affected to a large extent by inadequate teachers at 64.7 per cent, time wastage stood at 57.5 per cent, frequent absenteeism by pupils was at 50.9 per cent and frequent absenteeism by teachers was at 47.7 per cent,” states the report.

The study was conducted last December and is part of a national assessment system for monitoring learner achievement.

It is part of the Kenya Primary Education Project which aims to improve the teaching and learning of Mathematics for six million pupils in Class One and Two in public primary and informal schools in Kenya.

The study reveals that at least 59.6 per cent of Class Three pupils had been absent from school during the term, with Marsabit and Mandera having the highest percentage of pupils reporting to have been absent at 97.7 per cent and 93.9 per cent respectively.

REGULAR MEALS

The 1:1 pupil-textbook ratio has not yet been realised as a majority of the pupils shared textbooks with more than one pupil in English (53.4 per cent), Mathematics (53.6 per cent) and Kiswahili (54.1 per cent) and there were still schools where only the teacher had text books.
“Acquisition of ICT skills is still being faced with challenges as only a small percentage (31.9 per cent) of pupils were reported to have been exposed to the use of computers/laptops/tablets”.
The study also revealed that pupils from schools with a higher socio-economic status performed better than those from schools with a lower socio-economic status.
The study indicated that pupils who had regular meals registered better performance that those who did not.
“For instance, pupils who had two meals per day had better scores by 47.1 per cent, 28.8 per cent and 28.6 per cent in Mathematics” revealed the study.
“It is notable that poor nutrition diminishes pupils’ cognitive development through physiological changes and by reducing their ability to participate in learning,” says the report.
Marsabit, Kwale and Busia had the highest percentage of pupils reporting that they did not take breakfast regularly at 32.5 per cent, 37.5 per cent and 35.5 per cent respectively.
Standard Three, which marks the end of lower primary, was used as study population for the assessment. A total of 250 schools drawn from the 47 counties were sampled.
The second sampling stage was carried out at the school level and in each sampled school, simple random sampling was used to obtain 5,522 pupils (49.7 per cent boys and 50 per cent girls).
A total of 466 Standard Three teachers and 247 head teachers participated in the study.
“The capacity of teachers to handle learners with special needs is low,” showed the report. It added that nationally, the overall teacher shortage was 27.7 per cent.

INFLUENCE LEARNING OUTCOMES

The study utilised eight instruments namely; four questions, three achievement tests and a school observation schedule to assess class and school facilities and infrastructure.

The study sought to establish the personal, home-based and school-based factors that influence the learning outcomes of Class three pupils in Numeracy (Mathematics) and Literacy (English and Kiswahili). This study also sought to assess the pupil’s levels of acquisition of life skills.

“The high percentage of pupils who are not taking regular meals at home is worth noting. Kwale and Busia had the highest percentage of pupils reporting that they did not take breakfast regularly at 37.5percent and 35.5percent respectively; the percentage of the sampled pupils in Kwale and Mandera who did not take lunch regularly was 26.0percent and 24.0percent respectively while Marsabit (32.5percent) and Mandera (20.3 per cent) had the highest number of pupils reporting that they did not take supper regularly,” it adds.

It goes on: “ It is evident that Marsabit is one of the counties where a high percentage of pupils did not take breakfast (31.8percent) and supper (32.5percent).”

The report that was released by Basic Education Director General Leah Rotich on behalf of Education Principal Secretary Bellio Kipsang reveals that the teaching of Life Skills as a subject in school has largely been neglected.

“The capacity of teachers to handle learners with special needs is low. Although 44.0percent of the teachers were prepared to some extent to teach learners with special needs, 28.5percent of the teachers were not prepared to teach learners with special needs at all. This is worth noting considering that 57.7percent of the teachers had learners with special needs in their classes. Further, only 46.7percent of teachers in the sampled public schools and 17.6percent in private schools had been trained to handle learners with special needs,” adds the report.

“The capacity of teachers to handle learners with special needs is low,” shows the report. It adds that nationally, the overall teacher shortage was 27.7percent.

“I wish to most sincerely thank the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) whose funding has facilitated this study, as well as other ongoing initiatives of the Kenya Primary Education Development (PRIEDE) project,” said Dr Kipsang.

He said the report will be disseminated in all the 47 counties to allow county directors of Education and other education stakeholders make county, sub-county and school specific interventions.