- The report by Usawa Agenda titled 'Are All Our Children Learning?’ assessed learners purely on the competency-based curriculum.
- It focused on their ability to read and comprehend Grade 3 English and numeracy tasks.
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Two in 10 Class 8 learners are unable to read a Grade 3 English text, a report says.
The report by Usawa Agenda titled 'Are All Our Children Learning?’ assessed learners purely on the competency-based curriculum, with a focus on their ability to read and comprehend Grade 3 English and numeracy tasks.
It found that three in 10 Grade 6 learners failed to read Grade 3 text, with only two in five Grade 4 learners at least meeting the expectation.
The citizen-led survey was conducted between June and July 2023 across all 47 counties and assessed 39,298 children aged 6-15 in 1,813 public and private primary schools included last cohort of Class 8 learners.
More than 4,000 volunteers, village elders, coordinators and chiefs were used to visit 38,634 households to ensure coverage of the out of school children.
It was the eighth Usawa Agenda survey in 14 years but the first Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment report.
Generally, girls performed better than their male counterparts in reading Grade 3 appropriate English text, while 43 in 100 boys met the expectation as 47 girls aced the test.
“Overall, 45 in 100 children assessed at least met expectations in reading Grade 3 appropriate English text,” the report notes.
Girls also outwitted boys in solving Grade 3 numeracy problem, tallying 61 against 59 in every 100.
“Overall, 60 in 100 children assessed at least met expectations in solving a Grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem,” the report said.
When categorised by grade and school attended, the survey found that overall, 41 in 100 Grade 4 learners could read Grade 3 appropriate English text (Boys 39; Girls 44).
The genders tied at 67 in every 100 in solving Grade 3 numeracy problems although girls in private schools did better at 77 compared to 74 boys.
“Overall, 36 in 100 Grade 4 learners at least met expectations in both reading a Grade 3 appropriate text and solving a Grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem,” the study found.
Meanwhile, the survey found that 36 in 100 Grade 6 boys could not read Grade 3 text compared to 32 girls. Overall, the number stood at 34 for both genders.
The number is highest for boys in rural areas (40) compared to girls (37) but drops to 31 for boys in urban areas and 26 for girls.
Overall, 17 in 100 Class 8 learners did not meet expectations in reading Grade 3 appropriate English text. More boys (18) compared to 16 girls failed the test.
The survey is the second assessment of learning in the country after the Covid-19 outbreak that forced schools to close for nine months.
It offers an opportunity to seal gaps facing CBC implementation, which has been replete with challenges largely attributed to poor transition preparation.
“The findings reveal mixed fortunes in learning outcomes, with discernible gains in numeracy generally but also gains for girls and decline in literacy and stagnation for boys,” the report said.
The study also found that teacher/pupil ratio, geographical location of school, gender of learner, income status of household and dichotomy of private versus public primary schools and variations across counties are all unintended challenges to making basic education universal to attain equal learning outcomes.
“Rural public primary schools are generally understaffed with a permanent and pensionable teacher to classroom ratio of 0.93 compared to the urban whose ratio is 1.06.”