A new report has exposed how children in schools are not learning despite heavy investment by the government and donors in providing learning materials.
The study, by Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) – conducted in the last four years – monitored learning achievements in literacy and numeracy levels.
It also assessed the quality of education for pupils in Standards Two, Three, Six and Form Two students.
The findings of Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) for Standard Two and Three pupils indicate that a considerable percentage of pupils did not reach the 50 per cent benchmark in all the mathematical operations and number patterns.
“The high percentage of pupils not reaching the benchmark in number patterns (42.7 per cent), multiplication (37.4 per cent) and division (31.8 per cent) is worth noting given that the study assessed only the basic levels of multiplication and division,” the report, which will be launched on Friday in Nairobi by Cabinet secretaries Fred Matiang’i (acting Education CS) and Amina Mohamed (nominated Education CS) says.
“.....Class Two is considered a basic level in subtraction, yet a large percentage of pupils (43.2 per cent) did not achieve the 50 per cent benchmark.
"This may be attributed to other factors such as content delivery. The relatively high percentage of pupils (32.0 per cent) not achieving the benchmark in Class Six indicates that pupils lack the ability or skills to handle questions that require high order skills,” the report says.
PERFORMANCE
These include Samburu (45.7 per cent), Wajir (54 per cent), Kitui (54 per cent), Turkana (54.2 per cent) and West Pokot (57.3 per cent).
“It is notable that Samburu was the only county with learner achievement below the 50 per cent benchmark. Other counties with low scores were Bungoma (50.5 per cent), Meru (54.7 per cent), Vihiga (55.6 per cent) and Trans Nzoia (59. 2 per cent).
"On the other hand, Mombasa, Kirinyaga and Tharaka Nithi had the highest percentage of pupils attaining the 50 per cent benchmark at 99.2 per cent, 95 per cent and 90.2 per cent respectively.”
READING SKILLS
“This is evidenced by the high percentages of pupils not attaining Level 3 and 4 competencies at 63.9 per cent and 95.5 per cent respectively.
"It is also notable that there is still a considerable percentage (28.9 per cent) of pupils not achieving Level 2 competencies,” it adds.
It says the percentage of pupils who attained the pre-reading skills in both English and Kiswahili was very low at 14.9 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.
“It is particularly worth noting that at this level, pupils are expected to have attained the competence of arranging words in alphabetical order and using the dictionary.
"It is also worth noting that the percentage of pupils who have attained the reading for meaning competence in English and Kiswahili is low at 28.6 per cent and 47.1 per cent respectively,” the report says.
“This means that in English, a majority of pupils (71.4 per cent) are unable to read for meaning, indicating that they may have challenges following written instructions, especially at upper primary where the language of instruction is English.
"This is also bound to affect learning outcomes in other subjects. The high percentage of pupils (61.9 per cent) not attaining basic reading competencies in English is also worth noting,” the report reads.
GENDER
“In the Class Two study, more girls than boys attained the benchmark at 72.5 per cent and 69.8 per cent respectively.
"But in Class Three study, boys had a higher mean score in Mathematics than girls. Girls performed better than boys in English and Kiswahili in the study,” the report points out.
Other factors are pupil age. Older pupils’ scores in Mathematics, English and Kiswahili were lower than those of younger pupils.
